All for Family
by Wannabe Looter
Summary: "Pepper Checks? You mean the pirate? The one who caught a legendary pokémon? Plans on world domination?" Sal nodded at each question and sighed, "That's my sister." And being her brother made him more famous than anything. He hated it. [T for language and character death]
1. Ch1 SC

**A/n: First Pokémon story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1-Salt Checks**

Pepper Checks turned 20 last month, and just managed to get two criminal organizations to pledge their alliances with her 'pirate' crew. The pirate is quoted because it hardly qualifies as a pirate crew anymore, she might as well call it the damn Navy considering how many ships, grunts and commanders she has.

Salt Checks, Pepper's younger brother by three years. That's how everyone knew him these days. When he was 12 he was able to defeat 3 out of 4 of the elite four. At 14 he defeated the champion, but despite that, he was judged for being known as Pepper's damn brother. Not for defeating the fucking Champion while in the middle of puberty.

He's not sure how to feel about the comparison, considering he used to be close to his sister until he started hearing about the things she did. He was used to the ' _Oh! I see the family resemblance_!' when people saw them together, both of them having thick dark hair, slightly round faces, and the obvious gender differences.

When they were younger they could tell people they were twins and no one would question it. Now, the differences were too obvious to even bother. Not that either of them had any reason to, but it just wasn't like it used to be.

Salt and Pepper (yes, their parents thought it was hilarious) got along fine, and he even hoped to seeing her again when he started his journey. But, of course, she had to fuck things up by getting onto the nationwide criminally wanted list.

This incident started snowballing soon after Sal had finally defeated the champion after many many tries, and of course, after the celebration parade. He and his team of pokémon had a one night complimentary stay at a luxury hotel, and of course he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. He was just falling asleep with the TV on when he heard something that caught his attention-.

* * *

" _-Checks, I repeat, please contact this number if anyone can offer information about Pepper Checks. This 17 year old girl is a Class 5 trainer, her only reported pokémon being a fire type. She has been seen hijacking small ships and associating with criminal groups such as Team Rocket-"_

Sal jumped from his relaxed position, his lanky body now sitting wide eyed and alert to the screen. What was his sister thinking?! The only thing Sal could think of was that the only explanation for this was that someone was impersonating her or she was under mind control.

" _She was last seen in leaving with the 'Salvation' ship at route 19, and we suspect she may be planning on attacking passing ships. We urgently advise any and all ships that plan on headed south have at least a Class 4+ trainer on board."_

The dark haired boy refused to believe what he was seeing.

His luxray looked at him quizzically, clearly sensing some distress coming from his trainer. He leaped onto the bed next to the boy and nudged his head.

"I've told you about my sister before," he scratched Luxray's ear awkwardly, "I guess this is a crummy first impression, huh?"

Luxray nodded, leaning into the hand. He heard Sal talking proudly about his sister and their memories together many times during their journey. After searching for her in every town they passed through, never getting a straight answer, this was a surprise ' _Here I am!_ ' from the girl.

"This is probably why we couldn't find her." He patted his head, "But we have more time now that we aren't training to defeat the champion anymore. We are the champions!" he shouted enthusiastically. "At the very least, we can find the real Pep and help clear her name, right?" Luxray and his other pokémon roared with enthusiasm, "All for family…"

* * *

And here he was three years later, two epic battles with his sister, and one much betrayed feeling brother. Both battles with Pep had been broadcasted live, but there were some who believed that it was a staged battle so Sal could pull sucker punch on his home, Kanto. "Bullshit!" he used to shout, along with some other profanities, when it was suggested to him, but it was usually a useless endeavour.

Idiots never believed the truth.

He managed though. Every Nurse Joy welcomed him into their center, all the Officer Jenny's gave him a quick salute when they made eye contact, and his pokémon were always on his side, along with his mentor.

" _And we are now broadcasting Team Galactic's leader Mars response to Peppers national offer for any and all organizations to join her."_

The screen switched to a pre-recorded tape of the red headed girl, facing directly into the camera.

" _Yes, we have decided not to join ourselves with the wretched Pepper, because it's stupid. Pepper Checks is the stupidest bitch I've ever heard of and Team Galactic will not be joining with them anytime soon, "_ Mars' voice progressively got higher and higher. This is probably what they meant when they said Team Galactic wasn't the same threatening group once Cyrus ditched them _, "We're doing just fine on our own, even without our dear leader Cyru- uh… GET THAT CAMERA OUT OF MY FACE!"_ Mars pushed the cameraman over, the screen falling to the ground. The shot cut back to the news reporters.

Sal scoffed, ' _seems like that's one more organization denying Pep_ ,' he tugged at his white unbuttoned shirt that was over an orange tee shirt, and continued on his way to meet his mentor. Pokémon centers always had the news channel on, and he couldn't help but watch whenever something that involved Pepper was on.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw something waiting for him outside.

"No…"

The man jumped at the familiar voice. Shit, they made eye contact.

"Salt Checks!" shouted a man with a microphone, "May I ask you a few questions?!" and he turned towards the 17 year old.

"NOOOOO!" he cried, turning face and booking it down another street.

Just his luck paparazzi were swarming today, "Oh! Salt Checks! Would you mind-"

"NO!" he shouted desperately, running around the news reporter and her camera man.

He ran fast down the streets, turning left and right while still trying to make it to his destination, but it seems someone tipped them off, they were flashing cameras and reporters around every corner.

"Damn it, Ryan…" he cursed under his breath when he was finally surrounded. His mentor was always pulling something like this to make a quick buck.

"Sal! Have you thought over that offer Pepper gave you during your last battle?"

"Salt Checks! Did you ever think your sister could do something like that?"

"Were you planning on joining her at any point?"

"Do you know what Pepper is planning?"

"What would your parents say if they saw her now?"

"Do you ever think positions could ever be reversed?"

Pepper Pepper Pepper! It made him sick how the media tried to get information about her through him. Maybe if someone asked him about his own journey, how he was one of the highest classes in Kanto he wouldn't mind. But noooo~

"Luxray! Thunder Wave!" he called to his best and only real trusted friend.

Luxray beamed out of his pokéball with a defensive stance, a growl forming on his jaws before he beckoned the wave of electricity, paralyzing the surrounding crowd.

"Let's go!" he maneuvered his way around to freedom, then alas! He gained it. He checked around him, making sure there was no one in the desolated alleyway. When he made sure there was no one, he angrily whipped out his pokégear, speed dialing Ryan.

"Ey-o! Hey there, Sally!" the hippie welcomed with a soft enthusiastic voice.

"What the hell, man?" he snapped, "We were supposed to meet up."

"And we will, we will." Sal could almost see him waving his hands in peace, "I'm behind the pokémart now, come by and we'll talk."

He clenched his jaw, annoyance seeping through his voice "I have better things to do-"

"I know where it is." Ryan's voice suddenly when dead serious. "I finally found where her main operation is on land. We can go in there with your buddies, sabotage it from inside-"

Hearing this old tale once more, Sal sighed in defeat and pushed his hair back with his free hand, "Not interested," he stopped caring since his last battle with her, "Go to the police with this information."

"You know it's your destiny, Sal." Ryan continued, his obsession with fate making itself known for the thousandth time. "You're strong, she's strong. You're brother and sis-"

"That's the only reason, isn't it?" Sal laughed harshly, "It's ' _destiny'_ because we're siblings? That right?" he sneered the word.

"Well, yeah. Also because you're the cha-"

Sal snapped his phone in half, discarding the remains to the ground and stomping down to the busier streets of Saffron City.

"I'm really tired of her." He vented to Luxray with apathy, "No matter what I do with my life, it's gonna revolve around her in the eyes of others." He flicked his fingers, a habit he did when he was nervous.

Luxray followed him, wondering the matters of the situation. He didn't like Sal's sister, not many people did, but she was Sal's sister. He could join her and not many people would be surprised. If Sal went against Pep though, he's the brother who fought his sister. But if Sal were to beat Pepper… he would be famous for his own actions.

"I don't want to gain fame through her…" Sal clarified, knowing almost exactly what Luxray was thinking.

The electric type thought again. There is a reason Pep needs to be defeated, and so far the only one to come close was Sal. The fact that he was her brother was only that dramatic spin the media overused, grating it on Sal's nerve more.

"Though she does need to be stopped…" he thought, slowing down his steps. Luxray almost walked pass him, "Last I remember, she was class 7… if we can get to class 10, it's a guaranteed win!" he turned excitedly to Luxray, "Right?"

Luxray pounced happily, encouraging his trainer's idea. He knew Sal would choose him to hit the Level 100 mark, and he was ecstatic at the thought of being stronger than any other pokémon.

End: Chapter 1

* * *

 **A/n: Ok so we got a feel of Sal, and some hinted peeks at Pep. The story will alternate between the two, though the main will be Sal. Ch.2 will be Pep's pov, then Ch.3 the plot will start rolling. Ch.4 is when the oc's will start being introduced.**

 **Level class trainer is what it means. Sal is currently class 6, meaning his highest level Pokémon is level 60-69. Pep's class is 7, which means one of her pokémon are 70-79. If a trainer has a level 50 pokémon and the rest of their pokémon were level 30, they'd still count as Class 5. Class is registered into each pokédex, which canonly counts as an ID.**

 **The average trainer is a Class 3-5. Officers usually have Class 5. Champions usually get to Class 7. Class 10 is very rare, almost legendary. Trainers who would be Class 10 are Cynthia and Red, for example. I guess every protagonist in each game could count as Class 10 at some point, but we're not touching that subject.**

 **Pokémon are tougher to train in this story, so imagine gaining 3 levels in one year of 'around the house' training, younger and bug leveling up quicker than the average pokémon of course.**

 **Please leave a review before you go! Criticism is always appreciated, or even telling me which parts were good or bad!**


	2. Ch2 PC

**Guest Review Reply: THE CREATOR; As much as I would enjoy having Zero in the story, there are some things I want to ask about her without spoiling it to the readers, which is why the PM rule is there. If you make an account and send her in I'll probably accept, but as it is the answer is no.**

* * *

Chapter 2-Pepper Checks

The life at sea was exhausting lately. Yes, she loved to travel, she loved being surrounded by water and the never ending water pokémon, but it was missing _something_.

Pep knew what it was, but she didn't want to admit who it was. If he wanted to go do his own thing, fine-denial-, but he really needed to stop trying to interrupt her plans. She couldn't go against her moral code of never hurting family.

Yet he kept tempting her to do just that.

If only he _just_ _agreed to join her._

" _You_ can _choose your family, you know_." She was told by one of her top commanders. _"If he doesn't care about you, then you shouldn't care about him."_

She couldn't help it. Family was a fickle thing, especially when you couldn't really hold anything against Sal. She assumed that he only went against her because of pressure from the media.

'Family Fight Determines Fate of the World'

That's a headline that definitely made her smile. It's a story she'd be all over too if she were a journalist.

" _Maybe I should chuck you overboard?"_ she had retorted, a warning grin gracing her features. _"The only reason you're even on this ship, Niel, is because I owe your family a favor. Otherwise you wouldn't even have a job here."_

He looked fearful for a moment, as though the thought had never struck him before, but he blinked and his face went back to normalcy, a hint of sadness lacing his voice, _"I would respect your decision and get off at the next dock."_ Niel averted his gaze as Pep kept her eyes on him.

She patted his red-dyed hair, _"Good boy. I'll keep you."_ She teased. He threw on his submissive mask so she threw her superior one on, but they both knew that if she really did threaten to kick him off he would take half the crew with him.

Then again, they both knew that Niel loved his position as commander too much to let it go without a fight.

Power whore.

Back in the present, Pep was in the captain's quarters taking off her trench coat and boots, sliding the folded up bandanna she wore around her forehead. Despite wiping the sweat off her face with it, she was sweaty and grimy, and somehow managed to get dirt all over her hands despite not being near land for a month now. She changed into a fresh pair of grey sweats and a black tea shirt, and sighed in relief. Clean clothes is something she swore to never take for granted.

After she got changed, Pep jumped into her bed and then reached for a pokéball under her pillow, and let the pokémon out by tossing it lightly into the air. She sometimes played with the thought of getting rid of the pokéball altogether like those poképeta people insisted, but out at sea it's the safest place for the fire type in case of emergency.

"Hey, Canine!" she welcomed the huge wolf dog who laid next to her lazily on the bed. "Man, you need a brush-down sometime soon," She laughed as she played with the matted orange fur.

Arcanine woofed happily, welcoming the thought of getting brushed. She always enjoyed the bonding time between the two, seeing as how they didn't spend as much time together as they used to.

Pepper roughhoused with Arcanine briefly, the dog pokémon grabbing Pep's arm playfully and yanking it back and forth. The two tumbled to the ground, then Pep laughed and tapped the floor three times, "I give!"

Arcanine rolled off the slightly muscled girl and positioned herself so she was laying on the floor with her head on Pep's lap.

"You know, I just thought of something…" The girl sat up with a face that said ' _Eureka'_. She whipped her head down to face her faithful companion, and broke out into another huge smile, "I've haven't let you battle in a while."

Arcanine brightened immediately at the prospect of battling once more. Her tail thumped against the floor, and she licked Pep's tanned face. She hasn't had the chance to battle since they got on this stupid boat.

Pep laughed and pushed off the pokémon and jumped onto her feet, "Gross." She wiped her face with the neck of her shirt. "You can be my pokémon for the next ship we take over!" she enthused, getting Arcanine riled up.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Ugh…" she dropped her head, already feeling exhaustion from the business chat she was about to have. "What is it, Neil?" he was only allowed to bother her after hours in emergencies and messages from others.

"We just got a broadcast from the Galaxy Gang."

"…"

"…"

She realized he wasn't going to continue without being prompted. She sighed, "Well?"

"They denied the offer. Mars doesn't seem to understand that letting you take over the organization would benefit both them and us, and she called you some," he coughed uncomfortably, "… stuff."

A small chuckle escaped her lips, but she quickly caught it in her throat, " _'Stuff'_ huh?" she hummed with satisfaction, "Guess she doesn't have a sense of humour." Her special shoutout to the Galaxy Gang hadn't been appreciated, figures.

"Yeah…"

"Alright," she shrugged with her arms for effect, even though Arcanine was the only one who could see her. "Anything else?"

"We'll be arriving in Johto by tomorrow morning."

That's to be expected. "Anything else?"

"No."

"Dismissed."

She heard him shuffle away, and she flopped down onto her bed once again. What was with that girl Mars? She gave a bad name to women in power. Luckily there were women like Champion Cynthia to even the balance.

She herself didn't have a very good reputation either, but Pepper Checks was in charge of the quickest growing 'crime' organization in the world. Yes, she could do with a course in leadership or two, but she hadn't been foiled by some ten year old yet, so that already made her better than most organizations up to date.

It made her wonder why Sal refused joining her organization every single time she offered (twice in person, once through a personalized broadcast, a few dozen times over the phone). It's not like they're going down anytime soon.

She pulled out her pokégear and singled out her brother's number, then hit dial. Placing the gear to her ear, she listened as the automatic voice told her that the number she was trying to reach was no longer available…

Once in a while she would call her brother just to check in with him, but he changed phones very often. She has no idea how or if that started happening before or after she started contacting him. Good thing she had connections to people who could keep her updated on his numbers.

Thinking of her brother and Niel's words, Pep took a deep breath and watched the rolling waves out the port hole. She dug in her memory of her most recent battle with Sal only a few months ago, and replayed the scene in her head. Maybe that would help clear up her mind.

* * *

It was a damp day, the grey clouds threatening to rain but never really doing so as they passed by quickly with help from the wind. They were surrounded by media, so Pep's henchmen made sure everyone kept their distance while she battled. This was obviously a planned ambush, seeing how leaving she left her ship for ten minutes she came back to the docks and her crew surrounded. Sal was in the middle of it with (Nylan? Rick? Nick?) his friend, the two boys fighting four commanders while her grunts did their job and held the crowd back.

Pepper rushed to the center of the chaos and interrupted the battle, asking her brother what he was doing here. She was half shocked and half understanding when he told her that he came here to take her down.

She laughed, and accepted his challenge.

The battle went on. They shouted at each other over space of the docks. Each trainer calling back their pokémon when they couldn't battle anymore, leaving them each with one left. Sal couldn't tell if Pep was really struggling or if she was taking it easy on him. She hadn't used any items, claiming she had none, while he had to use several revives and potions. He was out of items, throwing his last oran berry at Luxray in a last ditch attempt.

"C'mon, little brother." Pepper laughed, holding her arms out in an open gesture, "Can't you see all I've accomplished? I can protect you now, nothing will bother you. Not the media, the pests of life, not even zubats! Just a life at sea and when my-"

"-I can take care of myself!" he snapped, then shouted at Luxray to keep on the offense.

Pep grinned, showing off her canines and crossed her arms, "So I've heard. Not only did you defeat the Indigo Plateau, you went and attended Hoenn's Ever Grande Conference." She called for Arcanine to use double team to throw Luxray off, "How did that go, by the way?"

Sal grunted with Luxray, realizing he wasn't making much progress in this fight. Luxray was fast, no doubt about that, but Arcanine was misleading Luxray all around their limited field. "Fine. I did just FINE." He shouted, "I got second place!"

Why was he humouring her with conversation?

"So join me!" Pep tried leveling with him again, "I can personally train you so you get first next time. Every time! Think of it! We can make it to Class 10 together! We can carry out my plans-"

"-I can train well enough without you!" he turned to Luxray, determined to focus on nothing but the battle now, "Luxray, finish this! Wild Charge!"

He needed to end this. Pep had revealed to him that she was on her way to retrieve a legendary, and it was well known that she recently stole a masterball. It would be too easy for her, so he had to stop her now before she wrecked more havoc. Everyone knew that messing with legendary pokémon was a recipe for disaster.

The tackle hit Arcanine dead on, throwing the dog across the field.

Yes!

This was her last pokémon in stock! He had actually won! Sal smiled victoriously as the crowd called his name, cheering and whistling. He hadn't felt this good since he defeated the Champion! The teen boy pumped a fist in the air, making sure to give a good show to the cameramen and photographers. He smiled and looked over to his Luxray to give him a congratulations of his own.

Luxray gave a fangy smile, looking as though he were about to collapse. Sal gave him an understanding look and went to dig the pokéball from his bag. As he did this, he realized he hadn't even looked at his older sister yet. He nearly laughed as his eyes shifted to his sibling, expecting to see her crumble in despair and cry as her underlings realized she wasn't the trainer everyone thought her to be.

But no.

She was clapping.

Slowly.

With a shit eating grin on her face.

"Very good," she applauded, "I haven't seen you smile in a loooong time." She placed her hands on her hips, shaking her head, "You'd think you'd be happier when in the presence of your dear sister."

Suspicion swelled in Sal's mind, then he quickly put two and two together.

Arcanine didn't really go down.

How could it? That pokémon had a record of only ever being defeated twice as a growlithe.

He narrowed his eyes and looked towards the fire type who was preparing Hyper Beam

"This is your last chance." All joking gone from her demeanour, her eyes dark and void of any emotion she might've have. She meant business now. "Join me now or your luxray's a goner." She threatened.

Sal went wide eyed as he looked over at Luxray. He was panting and could barely stand, chasing Arcanine around, then wild charge had taken too much out of him. "NO!" he shouted, trying to call the pokémon back to the pokéball, "Return!"

"That won't work now," Pep called, "I have an anti-device -including pokéballs- field working right now," One of her better stolen items. She was glad one of the watching commanders caught the hint when her pokémon pretended to go down, "so you better decide quickly."

Out of options, Sal ran onto the field as quickly as he could, catching Pep off guard. He needed to save Luxray, be it by using his body to shield him or dragging him back to safety.

Pepper growled, not liking it when others showed her up. Who just ran onto the battlefield like that? Fuck! He'll get blown to smithereens if she doesn't do something!

"ARCANINE! STOP!" she shouted desperately at her pokémon, but it was too late. The energy would explode in Arcanines mouth if she stopped now, she had to release it.

Pepper's last pokémon whined through move, releasing it and aiming the hyper beam upwards barely in time. The beam nicked Sal's shoulder, causing him to cry in pain. Funny, he would have been fine had he stayed put. His luxray didn't get a hit from the beam at all. Though, she guessed that was what Sal was aiming for.

The rest was a blur. Cameramen and officers were pushing their way through more viciously to help the injured trainer, her Commanders began urging her towards their hideout, words of hate and rage came from her brother's mouth, Luxray glaring death upon her.

' _So that's the way it is then.'_ She thought. The image of her injured brother, and the beaten and livid luxray imprinting itself in her mind.

The brother she knew was long gone. The smiling boy who came to her for help, followed her around, asked her questions when he didn't know something. He wasn't the same brother she grew up with, but that was to be expected after so many passing years.

It still pained her.

She had to try and recruit him more than once…

Pepper clenched her jaw and grinded her teeth.

…but if he was against her _sooo_ much…

* * *

Pep turned her head to the dozing Arcanine, her mind racing with thoughts.

"…"

She closed her eyes, letting the stress of the day lull her to sleep.

Maybe Niel was right.

She had bigger fish to fry.

And her brother was just a distraction.

 _(Just in the way)_

End: Chapter 2

* * *

 **A/n: Shit, did this chapter go on for too long? I'm trying to get an average 2000 words/5 pages per chapter… At any rate the next one will be more bearable and not as serious.**

 **ok I'm going to admit this really quick, I have trouble writing women, so I used an already existing character for Peppers base. She'll have her own personal quirks of course, but if anyone can guess who it is you get a prize~ (hint: Brother)**

 **In case you didn't catch on, Mars and Pep are sort of rivals. I say 'sort of' because they don't interact that much, but when they do they're definitely poking each other's buttons. I also say 'rivals' because both are female leaders of a well-known organization (even though Mars was more dictated than anything), but they don't ever really fight each other. Pep likes to poke fun that their organization just chases around their old leaders ghost, and Mars pokes at her weird brother obsession. I don't know if I'll expand it as the story goes on.**

 **Review! Follow! Fav! Tell a stranger 'Good Luck' tomorrow, they need it!**


	3. Ch3 SC

**A/n: I lied. OC's are being introduced this chapter.**

 **Guest Review Reply: THE CREATOR- Shitty. Feel free to message me when you get an account.**

 **A/n: Sorry for the wait. I guess updating the first two chapters within a couple of days within each other was a bad move on my part. For now I'm going to aim for updates on Thursdays.**

 **Chapter 3: SC**

* * *

Sal idly played with the cord. "What's the plan now, boss?" he asked into the phone.

"Depends," the man on the other line replied, "what _can_ you do?"

The younger of the two impatiently groaned, while at the same time trying to be patient. "I can do what I can do. You said something about ' _going in and going out._ '"

"That's right, I have a plan!" He suddenly remembered, and Sal could see his blue eyes lighting up. "You see, I have a few dozen electrodes just laying around…" Ryan was starting to ramble, Sal could feel it.

And he already knew where this was going.

"Blow it up?" the teen interrupted. "A bit predictable, don't you think?"

"A classic never fails."

"I see."

"I found her base while I was in a hunt in Johto." _Tracking_ was probably a better word than hunt. The man on the other side of the phone was one of the most hard-core pokémon collectors out there.

"Johto? My Champ Status doesn't transfer over there!"

"You'll manage." He assured. "Anyways, I can't talk about this while you're on a payphone. Meet me in Cerulean's Pokémon Centre, we'll continue there." And with that, Ryan hung up.

Sal muttered to a dead line "…alright." The dark haired teen pictured a map in his mind. Cerulean was just North of Saffron. At this point he didn't know if it would be more trouble catch a pidgey and teach it fly, or to just pull out his bike.

Usually he didn't like keeping pokémon in his pc box, it made him feel guilty not being able to spend time with them, and thus, he only caught them for necessity. A contrast to Ryan's own belief, who caught them as a collection.

One of the reasons Sal purposely kept out of contact with him.

Sal rubbed his temple, brushing aside his thick black hair as he did. "Biking it is…" he conceded.

* * *

The trail to Cerulean from Saffron wasn't too bad. Sal never really did like bike riding no matter how often he used the thing or how convenient it was, but it was better than walking.

He had just left the Saffron, his trusty Luxray safely latched on his belt. He had only been in Saffron for a few hours before the paparazzi caught him. Cerulean was smaller, so it shouldn't be such a problem this time, especially with (hopefully) no anonymous tips.

Salt was whistling to himself when he suddenly saw a girl about his age being harassed by some type of bird pokémon. It wasn't aiming for the kill, far from, but was still being harsh.

He shifted gears and sped up ahead.

Her shouting reached his ears as he got closer. "I'm sorry! Stop it!" Looking at her green garb, a green vest over a light blue shirt and a dark green skirt ruffling over her knees, Sal was able to deduce that she was a pokémon breeder. Odd, aren't breeder supposed to be good with pokémon?

When he got a few metres away from her, he hurdled off the bike and let it fall to the ground. "Do you need help?" Sal asked hastily as he rushed to her side.

The orange bird pokémon took a moment to regard the man, but decided to ignore him. But the he came in between the two and swatted the bird pokémon away before it had the chance to swoop in. He pushed the girl behind him and made it clear that he was his opponent now.

The breeder cried as the bird continued diving at the two of them head on, "J-just don't hurt him!"

Sal couldn't get a good read on the situation. Was she trying to catch it? A rebelling pokémon? Was it just an angry wild pokémon?

"Luxray! Go!" he summoned. The pokémon flashed out in a battle ready stance, coated with static. Sal pointed towards the attacking bird and commanded, "Crunch!"

The electric type did as commanded, leaping into the air and capturing the bird in its mouth, taking care not to destroy it with his fangs. Hah! An easy win. The luxray posture shined success, but his eyes slowly went wide when his mouth began to heat up to an unbearable level. He quickly spat the pokémon out and wiped his mouth with its paw.

Just as Luxray was going to pounce the thing for revenge, a beam of red light caught it and trapped it into a pokéball. He looked up to where the red trail led to, and saw that the girl was responsible to taking his opponent out. Why would she do that?

"Thank you." She panted as she attempted to adjust the wavy hair she scrambled in a ponytail. "Fletchinder is my only flying type, and I was hoping he could help me get around faster, but we don't really get along yet…" she got a lightly mournful look across her face. "Anyways!" she pushed her depressing thought's aside. "Thank you! Please, take this as a token of my appreciation." She walked up to him and placed a white ribbon in his hand. "It's useful in pokémon contests. Make good use of it!" she then began skipping towards Cerulean City.

Sal sighed. The girl hardly let him get a word in edge wise, and what was he going to do with this ribbon? There weren't pokémon contests held in Kanto, and even if there were, he sure as hell wouldn't attended them!

Well, actually, he might. If only to show off his pokémon. Dressing up in a fancy didn't sound so unappealing either…

Anyways.

The champion went back to pick up with discarded bike, returned the shell shocked Luxray to his own pokéball, and then rode up ahead to where the girl was. That pokémon wasn't in his pokédex yet, and he wanted to fill it up as much as he possibly could.

"Hey, can I scan that pokémon you had with you?" he asked when he caught up to her. The teen jumped off his bike and stuffed it into his bag. "I haven't had the chance to travel much outside of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Unova, yet I've never seen a pokémon like that before."

She turned to him with a slightly timid, but friendly look. Why was this tall guy following her? She already said thank you and gave him a reward! "That makes sense. Fletchinder isn't from any of those regions, he comes from Kalos."

"Kalos," Sal tried the name on his tongue. "Cool. Can I see…Fleshindar now?" he hoped he said it right.

The girl giggled, her shyness slowly easing away. "Uh. Flet-chin-der." She pronounced slowly. Sal rolled his eyes with a small smile.

"Right. Can I scan him?" he repeated.

"Of course! But can we wait until I get him healed first? Your Luxray KO'd him and I don't have any revives with me."

Dammit, he didn't have any healing items either. "Sure. I'll walk with you."

 _'Note, go for a supply run while in town.'_ Sal thought. He had to be prepared for times like these.

"Um. Ok." She flustered. He wasn't going to leave her alone, was he? Sigh, this is what she gets for bringing odd pokémon to new regions.

Traveling was exhausting.

"So…." She started slowly. "My name is Annette, but you can call me Annie." She turned her hazel eyes up to him. "And you?"

' _Ok!'_ Sal thought with enthusiasm, ' _This girl is definitely not from Kanto if she's asking for my name._ ' Relief and self-pity took form in his stomach. On one hand, this was an opportunity for someone to know him as someone other than 'Pepper's brother'. On the other hand…

"I'm the champion of Kanto!" he shouted as though he were appalled. "How do you not know that?"

Annie was a little startled, "Does the 'Champion of Kanto' have a name?" she asked cautiously. The petite girl couldn't tell if he was joking with her or being serious.

Sal was actually excited. She was a blank slate for him! He can have an acquaintance who doesn't judge him because of his sister!

"Salt Checks." He finally replied with a friendly smile.

"Salt…Checks…?" where had she heard that name before? He was the champion of Kanto, yes, but there was something else.

Salt looked worried and was about to ask her if she was ok until she lightly hammered her fist on her palm.

"Oh! You're Pepper Checks brother!" The small girl finally concluded. She knew she heard that name before! "I hear about you on the news all the time in Kanto! I'm sorry I didn't recognise you before." Annie smiled brightly. She had never met with a celebrity before! Even the gym leader in her home town kept to themselves most of the time! "Don't worry, I know you're not like her. You're too nice."

"…"

"…"

"…"

' _Did I say something wrong_?' she thought worriedly. "Hello?"

Sal needed a moment. He took a looooong deeeeeeep breath to make sure he didn't groan. _'This girl didn't know any better. She was a foreigner. She didn't know any better. She didn't know him personally. She wasn't from around here. She was influenced by the media. She-'_

She interrupted, "-Um. Are you ok?"

"…Yeah." He fidgeted, averting his eyes. He was hoping they could stop talking about his damn sister for a minute ( **DAMN HER TO HELL**.) "So where are you from?"

"I'm from Hoenn." She could tell he just wanted to get off the topic of his sister, making her feel guilty. To make up for it, "So you're Kanto's champion? That's so cool!"

Salt grinned.

"Success must run in the family." She slipped, realizing that maybe mentioning his sister might not have been for the best the moment it came out of her mouth.

The teen boy crossed his arms in a pout. Ugh. Of course. You know, this is why he was trying to attend Leagues in other regions. If he could become champion at more than one place, then maybe he would outshine his sister. Being a champion of Kanto didn't hold a candle to being the champion of the sea (or whatever she called herself).

"Right," He sighed. Maybe he should seriously start trying to gain the full Indigo title for himself.

"So when did you become champion? Do you get a lot of challengers?" Annie asked with curiosity, trying to redeem the situation. Maybe showing him that she was interested would lift his spirits.

Sal snorted with amusement at the obvious attempt.

But at any rate, it was more of an effort than anyone else made.

* * *

They made it to town without any trouble, and Sal kind of enjoyed the company. Annie asked him things he hasn't been asked in a while, even when she asked about his favorite colour he got ecstatic. He asked his own questions and it turned out they were the same age, which was rare for him these days since trainers were starting out at as young as five years old these days.

But of course, all good things come to an end.

"Sally!"

And the end started with an 'R'.

A man with chestnut brown hair and a white collared sweater with a blue trim came running up to the entrance to greet them. "What took you so long?" Ryan asked cheerfully, patting the boy's shoulder. "Who's this?" he referred to the dark skinned girl.

"Annie, Ryan." He gestured to the man. "Ryan, Annie." He then motioned back towards the girl.

"Nice to meet you." Ryan happily extended his limb for a handshake.

The first thing to pop into Annie's mind was that Ryan's head looked like a loaf of bread. The brown poofy bowl cut and square chin almost made it hard to see anything else. His blue eyes could be seen as blueberries, and if she put his chin whiskers into account, she could imagine the loaf of bread dropped on the floor… "Y-you too." She stuttered. He didn't seem so bad though. He gave of a calming aura, one that made her feel like she didn't want to disappoint him.

Ryan focused back on Salt with a notch of seriousness. "I need to show you something, but I can't do it here." He grabbed the champion by his orange sleeve and began dragging him along. "Let's go outside."

He yanked his arm away. "Dude, I'm with a lady."

Ryan didn't hesitate a second to turn his head towards the girl. He leaned down a few inches to match her eye-level, and smiled politely. "Do you mind if I borrow Sal for a few minutes?"

Annie awkwardly nodded her head. Why did he need her permission? "Sure. I'll… just be here." She needed to get her pokémon to Nurse Joy anyways.

"Great!" he turned his back to the breeder, and then grabbed Salt by the collar. "C'mon, Sally."

Ryan didn't drag him too far, just west of town. Sal had allowed himself to be pulled along because he knew Ryan beat him in physical strength, which only counted because Ryan was five years older. Sal likes to think that he would have him pinned if they were the same age.

"Meet me at Azalea Town in a week. We'll plan things out from there." He said as though they were making lunch plans.

"You couldn't tell me that over the phone?" he raised a brow.

"That phone could be tapped."

"Good. LET the police handle it, it's their job."

"Funny." Ryan chuckled and let the conversation hang from there.

The silence went on for a few minutes.

Sal decided to bite, "Why a week?"

Ryan laughed bashfully, "I actually still want to hunt that pokémon."

The same one he was tracking when he found Pepper's hideout?! "It better not be a legendary one, you know that's _really_ illegal. I'm not bailing you out."

"Nope. It's from Unova."

Unova… Ryan had most of those pokémon too. Shiny types were rare but, "How did a Unova pokémon even get in Johto?"

Ryan shrugged, "Someone might've lost it while they were visiting or something."

"Well. That's your thing." He flicked his fingers just to give himself something to do. "So Azalea Town? That's the place with Slowpoke Well, right?"

"I think so. See you in a week?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

In a blink of an eye, Ryan gave a cheeky grin and called out a pidgeot to use Fly. As second he was in the air, Sal turned around and headed back to the centre.

He really didn't know why the breadhead couldn't just tell him over the phone.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: End**

 **OC submissions closed!**

 **A/n: Yeah, my laptop depends on my phone's hotspot, and that phone was cut off early this month. I swear I was going to update last week! Luckily my friend let me use their spare blackberry. But anyways, my phone is back and I'm good to go ^_^**

 **HEADCANON/STORY AU: To become champion of both regions, the Kanto Champion and the Johto Champion need to battle it out officially. The winner then becomes the Indigo Champion (getting the full Indigo title).**

 **Champion status allows them to deny battle requests from side-road trainers.**

 **(Annette Davidson (Annie)-Arcana of the North)**

 **Fav/Follow/Review/Buy a hobo a sandwich!**


	4. Ch4 SC

**A/n: (Shhhhh pretend it's still Thursday and that I didn't fall asleep the second I got home) The pokédex's name is Dexter, so I might use that sometimes. Do not be confused.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: SC**

After Ryan left, Sal decided to go to the mart to restock on supplies. It wouldn't take long, and he was certain Annie wasn't pacing back and forth waiting for him to return.

He needed a breather too. It's been one thing after another today. First Team Galactic on the news, then being ambushed by the paparrazi, soon after he met Anne, and then Ryan came into the picture. Stupid Ryan (that man alone can drive him crazy given the right circumstance), claiming he knows where Her hideout is…

It better be the actual fucking place too. He swore, if it turned out to be some kid's treehouse that Ryan wanted to check out then he wouldn't hesitate to strangle him a little bit.

The more he thought about that scenario, the more likely it became.

Ugh, he needed to get his mind off things. He looked around for something to distract him, and saw a stand of sunglasses. He never bought them, but he liked to try on shades once in a while, it made him look cool.

Sal looked himself in the mirror from different angles. A dark pair of shades gave him a 'cool' look, but in his opinion he looked cool enough. The shades took the attention away from his smaller than average eyes and puffy hair. His short dark mane definitely had the potential to become an afro if let loose. His orange button-up overtop his bland tee-shirt, and blue jeans never went out of style. Were the shades pushing it?

Nah, he looked good enough. ' _Less is more,'_ he thought as he put the shades back, and then went to continue his mission to buy at least 20 of everything.

By the time he walked out, his wallet was both desert dry and crying a waterfall. _'Just like ripping off a Band-Aid_.' The only thing that kept his chin up was the reassuring thought of earning it all back from Johto's side road trainers.

He crossed the road and fiddled with the pokéball's on his belt. Hmm, he wondered what his old battling buddy was doing these days, he should phone him up and ask him to come along. Sal was sure their pokémon would be happy to see each other again…

He walked up to the pokémon centre's doors, but heard an unfamiliar chirping noise before he even entered. It was coming from behind the building.

From the bridge? It sounded familiar, and it took a second for Sal to recognize it.

(Flechindeer. Fleshindeer? Flethinder?)

That orange bird pokémon.

What was he doing out and about already? Didn't he just save Annie from being attacked from him?

Sal sprinted towards the source, and found the small pokémon eating from a small bowl and chirping happily in between bites. Annie was crouching a few feet away from the bird to keep a better eye on the pokémon as he ate. She didn't seem to notice Sal's presence.

He walked next to her and spoke softly. "He looks better."

Annie was startled and quickly looked up to him. "W-welcome back." She didn't expect him to return so soon. Ryan seemed happy to see Sal, so she thought that they would go get late lunch or hang out longer.

"Thanks." He looked Annie over. She straightened out and fixed her clothes while he was gone. Her green vest was smoothed out, and it looked like she got a new light blue shirt to put under it. Her skirt wasn't as ruffled, and laid smoothly across her legs, reaching her knees. "Why is he acting all goody-goody now?" he asked.

She stood up and to try and even out their height different, a difficult feat since she was a little under half a foot from his height. "He has to eat sometime." She explained simply as she continued watching him, almost seeming like she was distracted by something as she tapped her black mary-janes together.

"I guess." He still kept one eye on that bird. The silence was a little awkward, so Sal didn't waste much time to pull his pokédex out.

' _Fletchinder, the Ember Pokémon_.' Dexter stated robotically.

Sal allowed himself to wallow in a little bit of self-pity, ' _Even the dex knows how to pronounce it_ _right_.'

Dexter continued _. 'From its beak, it expels embers that set the tall grass on fire. Then it pounces on the bewildered prey that pop out of the grass.'_

No wonder Luxray seemed offended by him, they're both predatory pokémon.

Some other small things showed up. Which TM's and HM's it can learn, the pre/evolution, possible egg moves, where they can be found…

' _Lv.23'_ he read.

Sal put two and two together. If she was having trouble taming this pokémon, it must mean it was one of her higher level ones. A Class 2 trainer, maybe she just got out of Class 1. Nothing unordinary, breeders weren't exactly known for being high class.

Apparently Annie caught the calculating look on Sal's features, "I don't mind being Class.2. I'm not looking to defeat any gym leaders or become champion, I just want to become the best breeder in the world."

Sal nodded with understanding. He knew that not everyone wanted to be a trainer, it was normal, and being a breeder was good and all. But why? She couldn't even keep her pokémon under control. Wait. Was that her only pokémon? No… Breeders may not be known for their battling, but they were known for their small assorted team.

"I'm curious…" he began. "Why do you keep him if he's just causing trouble? Wouldn't it be better to just trade him to a trainer who can look after him better?" He wasn't offering to take him, not at all, it was an honest question.

"Maybe…" she sighed mournfully. "His last owner's thought the same thing, which is why they gave him to me." A spark of dedication shone through her eyes the same time she pulled Fletchinder's pokéball out and raised it to the sky in a dramatic way, despite that the pokémon was already out, "This is why I can't give up on him!" she prepared to command an attack from the pokémon. "Fletchinder! Do Flame Cha-aaah! S-stop it! My hair is not a plate of worms!"

The pokémon began pecking at her hair and pulling it loose the ponytail once more. Sal calmly took Luxray's pokéball from his pocket.

He didn't rush like last time since, from what he heard, this was a normal occurrence. "Luxray." The blue pokémon flashed out of the pokéball. "Sic' em." He commanded jokingly.

He didn't mean for him to take it so seriously.

Letting his instincts kick in, the pokémon happily pounced on the small bird and caught it in his mouth once again, making sure to avoid the girl. This time Luxray knew to spit him out before Fletchinder had a chance to burn his mouth. He pinned the bird to the ground with his paw and sent a victorious grin at the prey. He opened his jaw wide, baring his canines and slowly descended on his opponent.

Apparently Fletchinder wasn't going to take this, since he heated up enough to make Luxray to retreat his paw from the burning bird. The bird took to the air and leered at his opponent, and then prepared an attack of his own.

BeforeFletchinder could attack, he was summoned back to his pokéball.

"Thanks." Annie huffed gratefully as she attempted to put her black hair back in her ponytail.

Sal said, "No problem," And nudged for Luxray to get over the loss of a potential battle. "See you around." He turned face and planned on finding the nearest payphone. He got what he needed, now on to the next thing on the list.

"Wait!" she called. Sal looked over his shoulder, "Can we…ummm…" she hesitated and clutched at her green skirt. "Can we… switch numbers? I-I don't really know anyone and…"

"You want to tell people you have connections to the champion?" Sal almost laughed joyfully, but he reduced it to a good hearted chuckle.

Ah, was that bad? "No! N-nothing like that!" She waved her hands in front of her reddened face.

"It doesn't matter. Either way, I don't have a phone right now." He shrugged in a 'oh well' kind of gesture. "But I can call you when I get the chance."

Annie smiled appreciatively, then took out a pen and a scrap of paper to write her number on. "If you ever need a breeder's advice, I'm your girl!" she giggled as she handed it to him.

"Thanks again." He carefully folded the paper and placed it in his pocket. "I'll call you when I can, Annie."

"Yup!" she waved at his retreating figure. "Bye, Sal!"

"See you later." Sal rolled his shoulders and walked away from the Centre. Now was a good a time as ever to call his friend to make sure he could make it. Sal reached for his pocket where his pokégear would usually lie, and thought of when he should get a new one. It was a hassle, but it was better for the long run. But for now…

* * *

He inserted the coins into the payphone then punched in the numbers.

 _Riiiing_

Sal's little black book went back into his bag once he was finished with it. Considering how often he would, intentionally or not, break his phone, he needed to keep all his contacts written down. It came in handy more than once at any rate.

 _Riiiiiiiing_

Enjoying his time away from the handheld device, Sal felt relieved knowing that his sister would be unable to call him. It would always pissed him off when she would casually call him up like they were great buddies then tell him about her day like a typical girl. But what pissed him off more was that he couldn't resist the temptation of answering it and listening to her.

 _Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-_

-"Hello?"

Sal popped out of his thoughts when the other line picked up.

"Hey, where are you?" As much as he wanted to take this chance to catch up with his long-time friend, he wasn't one to waste too much time on pleasantries.

The man on the other end stayed silent, almost waiting. "…Hello?" he asked again.

Not to say that he couldn't indulge himself with some banter from time to time. "You are being requested by a 'Salt Checks'." he taunted, his voice edged of friskiness. "I don't know if you've heard of him…?"

The man matched the tone, "I don't hear any manners, so you must have the wrong number."

A small whine escaped his lips. "Dammit, Orval Sycamore, please." Sal lost his patience quickly. "I need to talk to you."

"Oh! Sally! Is that you?" Orval suddenly said with recognition, "So sorry, friend! My phone has a lot of issues these days."

He snorted, pleasantly amused, " _'Friend'_ , huh? Are you willing to do this friend a favour?"

Val suddenly turned the conversation abruptly. "Trivia time you say? Alright. Did you know that Mr. Mime's are never called Ms. Mime, even if they're female?"

Sal smiled at his friend's antics. One of the reasons he kept in contact with the guy regularly was because of his sense of humour and the little pokémon facts. "Did you know that I didn't call for this?" he retorted.

"Well, I don't hear you calling for any other reason."

As much as Sal wanted this chit-chat to continue, he needed to talk to him. Over the phone Val could talk and talk. It would be best if they talked face-to-face. "I'll give you ten dollars to tell me where you are right now." He could get there quickly if he caught a pidgeotto.

"First tell me where you are," Orval bargained.

He didn't even need to think about it. "Western Cerulean payphone."

Orval chuckled. "What a coincidence…"

"?" Sal looked around himself this time to see if he was around. He didn't see anyone his age with light brown hair in the immediate area… "Orval?"

"…hold on one moment." He prompted.

Sal waited, slowing keeping one eye open as he did. He heard silent breathing on the other side, then some panting. Then at some point he was sure Val covered the phones speaker with his hand. Did he interrupt something when he called?

"SALLY!"

Salt shouted for two reasons. A) That was a really loud and that threw him off guard, not to mention it was right in his ear.

B) That voice came from behind him.

Before Sal could even look behind him, he was tackled to the ground.

"I've missed you! Where've you been, man?!"

The boy on top of him had a fairly average build, and the only reason he was able to pin Sal was because he caught him off guard. Sal could only see his wavy dirty blonde hair that was styled with a wavy front that generally pointed up, leaving his forehead confidently exposed. Sal tried to see if he could sneak his hand up to pull at the yellow bandana he kept around his neck.

"Did you know sometimes a female azurill can evolve into a male marill?" he asked as he nuzzled Sal's cheek, oblivious to Sal's already rough day.

"Enough with the trivia." Sal commanded as he pushed the teen off him, giving up on the tactic and used force. "How did you get here so fast?"

Orval was quick to offer his hand after he leaped to his feet, and laughed nervously. "I- uh….teleported. Eh heh…"

' _He's not a psychic trainer…"_ Sal recalled as he accepted the offer, and was heaved to his feet with one tug.

Orval hadn't changed much over the years, the same old black tee-shirt underneath the vibrant yellow hoodie. Sal didn't even have to look past the waist to know he would be wearing faded blue jeans and even more faded sneakers that were once pure white.

His whole outfit practically said 'be my friend!'

"…"

To Sal it did anyways.

Sal dug into his pocket and pulled out that promised ten, then waved it hypnotically in front of Val's face as though he were waving a watch on a chain. "Tell me hooooooow~"

Val rolled his eyes and snatched the ten with a grin and stuffed it into his own pocket. "I was visiting Bill and looking at his collec-"

Sal began glaring mercilessly.

"O-oh right, you're against that." He stuttered and ran his hand through his short wavy hair. "I w-was volunteering with…uh….or… uh…fun. Orphans. Yes. Orphans. Volunteering with them."

Sal scoffed as he shifted his feet. He'll let that slide for the time being. "So about that thing I called you for. I need you to-"

"-Trivia? Again?" His big brown eyes lit up, taking every moment to show off his facts as often as he could, even when no one asks for them. "Ok then, legend says that-"

"-No! I'm trying to ask for a favour!" With a look of tired and deviousness Sal jumped towards Orval and covered his mouth, "Now listen, I need something from you." _'To listen to me.'_

Val removed the hand and looked at Sal with confusion. "Money?" He assumed. "I dunno, I'm actually pretty broke right now."

Sal groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Arceus…" Aside from that, didn't he just give him a ten?

"Arceus can be pronounced two different ways."

Sal fought hard to hold back laughter.

He didn't know if it was because Val was throwing too many jokes his way or if the stress of the day was finally getting to him. Probably a combination of both.

He quickly waved his hand at Val. "Sh! Sh for one second." He needed to regain his composure.

Val seemed to understand that Sal wasn't feeling his best today, and decided to listen patiently. "…"

"…" Sal waited to make sure he wouldn't start spouting trivia again. Once he was sure that look Val was giving him were waiting and curious, he continued, "We found Pepper's hideout." He finally revealed

Orval acted nonchalant to the news, news that the league would kill to have, "I thought everyone knew where her hideout was." Val cocked a brow skeptically. "I mean, she pretty much lives on it. I guess her ship moves a lot, but it's not like she doesn't have a fleet following her all the time. Anyone could spot her with a good enough telescope."

"Sorry," Sal deadpanned with hinting sarcasm. "I guess that should have been obvious." Was it bed time yet? He needed to hurry up and get to tomorrow, today was going to drive him insane.

"Seriously though," Val crossed his arm and finally got into a more of a sombre stance, "Did you really find it?"

"Ryan did." Val was finally being serious, Sal finally felt relieved. "He found it while he was in Johto."

Orval didn't doubt Sal, not for a second. He was also quick to figure out that Sal called him to invite him on the heist (or whatever the plan was). But what does a 4th class going to e needed for? The champion was there, so did they just need more man power? "What's the plan?"

Sal let out a sigh and began flicking his fingers. "Well, Ryan wants to meet up in a week. His plan is to… go in, blow it up, and get out." He explained the plan with condescendence.

Orval allowed himself to smile at the simplicity of it, "Classic." He began racking his brain for alternative plans. There always needed to be a plan B. "What if…" he took a deep breath to think of something on the spot and rubbed his bare forehead, "…What if we actually plan this out? I don't see much a point in blowing it up in the first place. What would that prove?"

Sal hadn't thought about that before, but he definitely agreed. "Right. At the very least, we'd just be getting rid of her lounge room." No one really knew what went on in her headquarters. Some said that's where Giovanni stayed since he joined up with Pepper and where Team Rocket did their experiments. Others say that there's a room full of space pokémon and aliens kept there.

Or it could just be the place where she played pool and restocked after many months away from home.

Val could sense that Sal was thinking too much right now, and those frown lines indicated that he wasn't having a great day. The bright eyed man closed the distance between the two, and friendly grabbed Sal's shoulder. "Buy me dinner and we'll do this together."

Their stomachs simultaneously growled.

Sal missed this guy. "Deal."

 **End: Chapter 4**

* * *

 **A/n: Fem!Azurill to Male!Marill is a real thing. I don't know if it's intentional or a glitch in the game, research on it proved fruitless as well, but it's still a thing.**

 **Dexter will show only the level and abilities of** **the pokémon being scanned** **. If it showed the moves and stats, I think that would count as cheating for battlers. It'll show everything else though, like which TM's can be learned, and what egg group it is, but nothing that can turn the battle around too drastically.**

 **Next chapter is Pepper Checks! We haven't seen her for a little while, and this is not the last of Annie either. I just don't want to throw a bunch of people at Sal at once. Seems a little suspicious, no? Everyone's intro is planned out and ready to go.**

 **(Annette Davidson (Annie)-Arcana of the North)**

 **(Orval Sycamore (Val)-SevillaBoy)**

 **Go out and get ready for Halloween! It's almost here!**


	5. Ch5 PC

**WARNING: If you sent in an oc and did not at** **least** **follow the story, then I will be dissapointed since I got stuff planned and you're not even seeing it...**

 **A/n: A pokémon doesn't necessarily need to learn the HM Surf or Fly if they can do it naturally. For example, starly are too small to carry a person so they need to be taught Fly, but staraptor doesn't need to know it since it's big and strong enough to do so naturally. (Exhibit A-Pokemon Rangers: Guardian Signs)**

* * *

 **Ch5: PC**

Pepper Checks had finally reached land before noon hit, south of the island where Cianwood City was.

"Ack!" She hopped off the second pokémon on her team, Politoed, and struggled a little to get on top of the three-foot ledge. The pokémon with her is strong enough to pull her through water, maybe even one extra person, but hopping into the air with no foundation was another thing. He was able to follow her on the ledge easily with one hop.

"How's it look, Poli?" she asked with as much enthusiasm as possible as she gained her footing and stood up to face her teammate. "You think we can finally get that damn shape-shifting pokémon this time?"

Politoed nodded with a bit of hesitance.

She stood there next to her pokémon proudly, looking into the forestry she dreaded.

Pepper got drenched on the way here, but it was to be expected while riding on the back of a pokémon. Politoed's skin was too smooth to properly surf on, heck, it was hard enough to just keep her grip on him, but she managed. If emergency, like a ship down, ever happened, she had enough room for one extra person.

Her sandy brown trousers were soaked, including the few items that were kept in there, but her satchel was safe from the onslaught. The back of her loose blue top with three quarter sleeves was the only dry spot, the satchel taking the blunt of the splashes. Even her hair was caught in perspiration from the burn of the sun. The red sash she kept tied around her forehead caught most of the sweat, but he dark brown thick hair didn't help prevent the heat.

She almost wished she could have brought her red trench coat, if only to give her something dry to change into, but the thing was like a neon signs for any officials. She left it behind on the ship.

As she finished wiping the sweat off her face, she tied it back around her forehead, knotting it to the side of her head. "You're lucky you don't have to whack your way through that." she chuckled to her politoed, squinting her black eyes and used her hand as a visor to try and see further into the islands unmarked territory.

After landing the ship a few kilometres off in the distance, Pepper and a couple of her crew mates made their way to land. She had learned the hard way to not land her ship on land, even if that particular dock hadn't been used in years and was far away from most civilization. Stupid ' _go ahead and let your pokémon run free while we're here, I'll be right back!_ ' command.

One too many foreign pokémon drew attention, someone called in the police (aka the good for nothings), and before you know it, BAM there she was fighting her brother for the second time.

Ever since then, she kept her ship anchored away, and surfed to land manually.

Pepper spent the morning carefully picking and choosing who would be walking with her back to headquarters and who would stay to protect the ship, she had taken her two closest to her for simplicity.

Speaking of which, one of them were here now. One that annoyed Pepper to no end, "So we're going to the Safari Cave to look for Zoroark?" Niel asked as he climbed onto the small ledge off his blastoise.

Wasn't that obvious? Wasn't that what they were talking abut their whole trip here from Sinnoh? She responded with an obviously impatient voice, "Yes. That's where your men said they were, correct?" she didn't bother to turn to face him.

"Right. I had a few of them fly ahead to double check. They lost sight of him, Zoroark probably transformed into a boulder or something, but they've stationed themselves in front of each entrance to prevent any type of escape."

"Zoroark can change into anything, person or pokémon. You're sure that they're aware of this?"

"Yes, ma'am." he nodded dutifully.

Pepper lazily looked left and right, searching for something with little effort. "Where's the third person of our party?" she questioned. She could have sworn he was right behind Niel.

"Uh..." he pondered on whether he should tell her not briefly, "He looked like he wanted to start swimming on his own. I told him he could go ahead since we're in no hurry." he said nonchalantly.

Pepper's eye twitched.

"' _No hurry_ '?" she seethed immediately. "NO HURRY?!" She finally whipped back to face him, waving a fist at him angrily. "I'VE BEEN TRACKING THIS DAMN POKEMON FOR TWO FUCKING YEARS AND YOU SAY ' _NO HURRY'_?!"

Niel waved his hands in front of his distressed face as though to defend his point, "He looked like he was having fun!"

"GET BACK IN THAT WATER AND GO FUCKING TELL HIM TO HURRY UP!" She shouted to the high heavens.

"B-but..." he stumbled for words.

"He's more pleasant company than you at any rate," she snarked. "Just fly to the pokémon centre when you're done. We'll meet you there."

Niel just stood there blankly. Why was she so quick to shoo him off? He was at the edges of her vision, so he nodded with a small ' _mhm_ ' and turned to his blastoise and silently told him to jump back in the water.

The turtle pokémon nodded and went back, carefully about to get into the water until he felt a hand on his shell. He turned back to see his red haired trainer shaking his head, and making a motion with his hands to jump carelessly into the water.

Pepper was still looking into the forestry, almost like she was trying to figure out the best way to walk around the trees and mountains, when she heard-

 ***SPLASH***

Pepper instinctively turned to the noise, even though the second she moved, she realized the inevitable. The waves were large, and even though Politoed tried to jump in front of her, even though she snapped her arms in front of her face, her whole body was quickly drenched.

Her eye twitched.

Brat.

She could hardly believe she was the junior of the two.

Normally she'd be a little bit angrier, the lower half of her body was already wet, and now her upper body was just matching. It wasn't a huge loss for her, so Niel should consider himself lucky.

He really needed to be replaced. Too bad her own sense of self-obligation didn't get in the way. But that didn't mean she couldn't demote him...

Sigh...if only he wasn't her highest class trainer on deck.

Aside from herself of course.

She stomped her way over to a sunnier part of the shore and began ringing out her clothes. Maybe she should call up her ex sometime and offer him a position here. What class would he be now? Last she remembered he was almost Class 6...if she did the math he would be...

Politoed made a shaky noise and timidly walked up to her. She heard his wet steps slap against the wet ground, and she looked back at the nervous pokémon and gave him a reassuring smile. Politoed was a bit of a wuss, but when she found the cute poliwag as a teenager, she always kept him on hand along with Arcanine.

"Well!" she casually turned to face the nearly 4 ft. pokémon with a friendly smile, but he flinched anyways. She didn't like it when any of her pokémon were nervous around her, but it's becoming more and more common as the years passed. She remembered that Ludicolo was starting to rebel against her, which was influencing Politoed. When Politoed took Ludicolo's side instead of hers, that was when she decided the pineapple pokémon had to go. If he hated being on her team so much, she didn't have to deal with it.

She began petting Politoed's head and smiled. "You don't have to worry about Niel, he's just an idiot."

The pokémon hesitated to look her face-to-face. He loved his trainer and everything, just as much as the next pokémon, but as he watched her slowly becoming meaner and meaner, he couldn't find it in himself to truly respect her as he once did as a poliwag or poliwhirl.

"Politoed?" she leaned down so her face was parallel to his. "You still in there, buddy?" she waved a hand in front of his face.

The green frog snapped out of it's small sweat and jumped from foot to foot to show that he was still alright.

"That's what I thought!" she chuckled and gave his long curly hair on top a brush through her fingers. "Now, back to your pokéball," she summoned him back, and he didn't resist, just gave a hesitant smile as he flashed out.

She clutched the pokéball tightly and slowly lowered it inside her satchel, thinking to herself as her eyes unfocused, ' _I'm not getting rid of you.'_ She suspected that Politoed was worried that she would get rid of him too, so she made sure to give him attention when she could. As long as he behaved himself, he was fine.

Her eyes caught onto something on the oceans horizon. A small dark speck, but if she squinted, she could see that it was Masayuki on his star like pokémon, Starmie.

The kid was definitely her youngest members of her crew, and one of the firsts as well. He first joined up (bullied into) when she first started this thing at 13, and was now a strapping young lad at 16.

She leaned up against a tree and waited patiently for the boy to arrive, which shouldn't be any longer than a minute. She knew he enjoyed the water, squeezing in every chance he got to swim even while they were sailing. It was bothersome, but she let it slide. It wasn't hurting anybody.

He silently leaped gracefully onto the land to reach the small crevice, resembling a professional gymnast as he stuck the landing. He was soaked from his head to his toes. Even the long braid he kept his blueish black hair in was soaked.

She watched him as Yuki quickly shook himself dry, shaking his black cargo pants and bare feet, along with swiping at his dark blue t-shirt. His small and slim figure shivered slightly as he reached for his traveling bag to put on his heavy work boots and a heavy winter jacket back on to help warm him up.

"You sure took your sweet time," she said with a neutral tone.

He looked nervous and averted his gaze as he put his arms through the sleeves, softly muttering, "Sorry."

"Whaaaatever." she waved the matter off. "You know what I called you for?" or in other words, ' _did Neil do his job, and tell you what's going on?'_

He slowly shook his head left and right.

"Speak up." she encouraged. Normally it was rude to answer a person in charge non-verbally, but she knew Yuki was a special case when it came to shyness.

"N-no..."

"Well, here's what it is. We're going to searching these caves for Zoroark, and it might take a while. I told Niel to meet us there later because I'm angry at him right now, so for now it's just you and me, kiddo! After this, if we find the damn thing or not, we'll go back to Headquarters. It's just a hop, skip, and a surf away." She rambled on, making hand motions as she spoke. The braided boy recognized this as her anxious behavior. Anxiousness meaning both nervously happy and nervous about messing up.

"Is this understood?" She asked, seeming as though she were sincerely curious.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good," she praised in a suddenly cheerful voice. "If nothing goes wrong, I'll give you a promotion. I mean honestly, you've been a cabin boy much too long, and I'm starting to feel kind of bad that the grunts take advantage of you."

"Thank you!" he bowed respectfully, doing his best not to show his discomfort around her.

Pepper watched the 16-year-old boy, wondering how long he'll hold it. But after five seconds she got bored and waved her hand "Come on." she beckoned him to take lead through the brush. She usually had him go first because if she were to go first, she would barrel through and trip over everything, step into swampy areas, curse the whole way, then come out covered in thorns and dirt.

On the other hand, Yuki would flex himself around everything and make sure to step on sturdy places only. She trusted his bush whacking skills more than she did her own.

"Let's go!"

 **End: Chp5**

* * *

 **A/n: The chapter got waaaay too long, so after much thought, I cut it in half. Pepper will be here again next chapter, along with more Masayuki!**

 **Still Thursday where I am.**

 **(Masayuki Yukimura(Yuki)-NightFall-sensei)**


	6. Ch6 PC

**Chapter 6: PC**

"Fuck!" Pepper had tripped over another vine of roots.

"Gotcha!" Yuki stepped back to catch her before she hit the ground. This was the third time she had tripped or fallen, and Yuki had trouble catching her each time.

"Ugh…" she sulked as she stood back up.

"It's alright, this place is really rocky."

She kicked at the roots sticking up in the ground. "And viney…" she grumbled.

"So…" Yuki hesitated to ask, but they were talking now, so why not? "What did Niel do this time?"

"Pffft," she blew the question off, "Just being an idiot."

"Oh…"

The two had dried off some time ago, meaning Yuki had put his heavy jacket away, which left him in his dark blue t-shirt. Islands were fairly warm, so it didn't take long for the sun to dry them up.

"Are we there yet?" Pepper groaned out once more as she sprayed more repel.

"Not yet…" he answered swiftly. Sometimes Pepper would remind him of his little sisters the way she would childishly talk. Speaking of which, he should call his family soon to let them know how he is, aside from being part of a pirate crew, in any case.

The captain stayed silent. And so did their travels.

More stumbling on Pepper's part, and more silent help from Masayuki.

The hike took a few hours, and at the first cavern opening, Pepper ran to the opening. There was no one around, so she didn't hesitate to dash inside. Yuki followed behind her and took the hint that they were traveling through the caves now.

Yuki looked around his surroundings, wondering is the lack of people should be concerning. "Wasn't Niel supposed to have people at each entrance?"

Pepper looked around as well, sighing angrily and pulling her red sash down to her eyes in frustration. "God dammit." She sat down and leaned against the rocky walls. "Niel probably called his men back when he had his tantrum."

"Why does he have men anyways?" Yuki thought aloud, but the woman answered anyways.

"'Cuz it's hard having a whole fleet of people to order around myself, so I need to divide it to trusted people, then command those trusted people, and math and stuff," She said lazily.

Yuki let the conversation hang there, and stayed standing even though the other was sitting comfortably. He guessed that tripping and almost spraining your ankle countless times over the course of a few hours got exhausting. He looked into the darkness of the cave, trying to navigate where the exit would be, when he saw a pokémon dashing by in the distance. His eyes widened and followed the pokémon with trained eyes, and recognized it.

"Are houndoom usual for this cave?" he asked quickly.

Pepper startled out of her dazed state and looked at him skeptically, "No, why?"

"One just ran by," he pointed into the darkness.

"After it!" she shouted sternly, getting up herself to start running after it.

Yuki listened immediately and began running after the pokémon, and he deftly heard Pepper call out Arcanine to start running after the pokémon as well.

The lithe boy got a good head start, the adrenaline pumping his heart as he dashed down the caves endless halls. He had it in the edges of his vision, just barely out of reach for him to see, but he knew it was there. He didn't pay attention which turns he took, what he jumped over, until he hit a sharp turn and bumped into a regular Golbat.

"?!" he huffed, sweat beginning to glisten as he fell to the ground, feeling slightly disorientated. Ugh, he bumped his head when he hit the ground.

Oh right, he was chasing the dark fox pokémon. And then he lost its tail when he fell back on that golbat. Luckily the bat wasn't looking for a fight and flee'd on its own.

He got up and opted for a light jog now, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for Zoroark. Yuki knew he saw that pokémon running down here somewhere, so where did it go?

Maybe a more humane approach would work? "Zoroark!" he cupped his hands around his mouth, "Can you show yourself?" he paused, waiting for some sort of reply. All he heard was his own echo and droplets of water.

He looked behind him to see what Pepper's look on the situation was. He was sort of surprised when he didn't hear her laugh when he fell, or even when she didn't offer to help him up, but it wasn't something too out of character.

But where was she? "Eh?!" he quickly turned all around 360, looking for where the captain was. "P-Pepper?" he called uncertainly. She was riding on Arcanine, so it's not like she could've been left behind. Did she get lost, or did she ditch him like she would ditch Niel? She never did anything like that to him before, but maybe she needed to let her anger out somehow, and he _was_ the closest thing around. Or maybe when he fell, she went on ahead.

A scream took him out of his thoughts.

" _WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_ "

The blueish black haired man jumped out of his skin when the screaming was reverberating off the walls. Where was that coming from? He put one hand over his pokéball, and the other in front of him defensively. That scream sounded frightened, and he assumed that something was either chasing that crying voice, or that cry was to throw him off like fake tears.

He didn't let his guard down either way.

Even when he saw a boy his age running towards him with tears in his eyes.

Wait, what?

"HELP MEEEEEEEE!" He cried with tears streaming down his tanned olive skin. His dark brown hair hung just above his brown eyes, that were now red from crying. He wore a slightly worn red hoodie with a white shirt underneath. Yuki thought he recognized the pendant that was around his neck from somewhere, a silver cylindrical with a groove in the middle, but threw the thought aside.

Yuki stood his ground, but allowed the man to hide behind him and take shelter by gripping Yuki's slim shoulders to use him as a meat shield. He winced in mild pain as the man behind him tightened his grip, which was kind of awkward altogether since the man was taller than him by a good half a foot.

' _He has quiet the hold_ ,' Yuki thought as he shifted his shoulders.

He stuttered into Yuki's ear, tripping over his own words as he tried to point in the direction he came running from. "T-t-theres a m-m-mons….ter!"

The long braided boy listened intently for the ' _monster'_ , and then heard small movement coming towards them. "Stay behind me," He commanded, feeling his instinct to fight kicking in. The boy replied with a quivering 'uh-huh' as the thing, monster, came closer.

Yuki saw the shadow of the thing come closer, and he was prepared to bring out his main pokémon to fight the thing. His free arm was now helping the boy behind him to help reassure him that he was safe.

"H-here it comes!" the unknown man shivered, forwarding chills to Yuki.

What was it that had this boy so spooked?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" the fright stricken boy shouted, which nearly put Yuki's ears out of commission.

And usually, Yuki would have jumped into action the moment he saw the cause for harm

But usually, it would be a threatening pokémon he was up against.

"W-w-w-w-what are you doing?" the boy cried, pointing his shaking finger at the pokémon. "KILL IT!"

Yuki dropped his stance and looked at the man incredulously. "That's a dratini…"

"That's a DRAGON!" He emphasized the word. "DRA-GON!" he repeated for added effect.

Yuki looked back at the dratini and watched as it squirmed its way to follow the frightened man.

Which made the him run.

But it seemed he didn't want to leave Yuki's protection.

' _And round and round they go…_ ' Yuki sighed internally as he watched the man, possibly a year or two older than himself, run around him endlessly while being chased by the baby pokémon. Dratini weren't usually found in this cave. The two options were that it was the Zoroark that Pepper was chasing, or it escaped from the nearby Safari.

He watched as it continued squirming towards the tall boy.

"…"

It was probably an escapee from the Safari.

"Stay behind me," Yuki exhaled as he stepped forward and placed himself between the two, facing the dratini. The small pokémon looked surprised at this action, but it was quick to try and figure out a way around the new obstacle.

Yuki already knew which pokémon to use. "Froslass."

The ice and ghost type pokémon gracefully came out next to Yuki with a soothing cry, and locked onto the dragon pokémon in front of them, seeming like she already knew what to do.

Dratini looked confused, still looking for a way around to reach its goal, which was apparently the mysterious boy. It was taken by surprised when the pale pokémon in front of it decided to attack.

he quickly let out the command, "Frost breath." She inhaled deeply, then carefully aimed the chilling breath onto the slithering opponent without a moments hesitation, it almost seemed like she already knew which move to use before her trainer commanded it.

 **One hit KO!**

"Thank you, Froslass," Yuki said before returning the pokémon back.

A new voice popped up. "Hm? Yuki?"

Both of the men turned around to the new voice, and Yuki recognized it to be the woman he lost not too long ago. "Ah… You didn't ditch me?" he asked.

Pepper came walking up, "'Course not. You just ran in a different direction, and I thought I saw Zoroark run in a different way…" she trailed off, a hint of shame tracing her features. She was a little embarrassed that she lost a sixteen-year-old boy, but, "Anyways, what's your progress report?" she eyed the new guy curiously, along with the fainted dratini on the ground.

"Uh…" Yuki looked at the two new objects in question.

"My name is Arlin Stone!" The guy, apparently Arlin, quickly introduced himself, going up to Pepper and shaking her hand.

"Er…" she lifted a brow skeptically and took a step back, his hand keeping a firm grip on hers. "Nice to meet you, Arlin Stone." When she realized he was holding onto her hand a little too long, she shook it off with a look of mild disdain. She took a few steps closer to her crewmate, and focused her attention back to him. "Well?"

"T-this man was being chased by that dratini over there…" he explained as he pointed to the fainted pokémon.

"Dratini? In this cave?" she looked over the small thing and recognized it as a younger dratini, probably just a few weeks old. It was definitely smaller than average, since they were usually at least six feet in length, while this one was maybe four or five. It was fainted, without a doubt, but one couldn't be too sure. "Why was it chasing him?" she questioned, but didn't sound very interested.

Yuki didn't have an answer, so he looked over at Arlin for an answer. The muscle built teen looked just as confused and only offered a shrug for an answer.

Pepper didn't seem very satisfied and walked over to the boy, getting into his personal space.

"Woah! Haven't you heard of boundaries before?" he tried to take a step back, but the woman had a grip on the front of his red hoodie, "HEY!"

Se began patting him down like one would at an airport, which really tipped him off. He didn't struggle, the shock of someone doing this paralyzing him. Was she flirting with him in her own way? The analytic look she had as she patted him down was a little terrifying, he thinks he would prefer it if Pepper had any other look on than that, even an angry one.

"Ah-hah!" she finally smiled as she made skin on skin contact on his right thigh. This really made him jump, pushing her off this time and taking a few steps back. "W-what was that for?" he stuttered.

"You have a hole in your pockets," She replied with a roll of the eyes. "The dratini seemed to like your taste of cuisine."

"Hmm?" Arlin collected himself and patted his pockets, finding that there really was a hole there. How did that happen? It was small, but it went straight through his pocket. He panicked slightly before checking his other pocket, and sighed when he realized that his black knife was still in there. "Phew…"

"Isn't that a haxorus tusk?" Yuki inquired, staying silent until that point.

"Yep!" he stated proudly, twirling it around his fingers proudly. Those rations, while were costly, could be replaced. This! This was something he couldn't afford to lose.

Pepper looked at him with a sidelong glare, which Yuki recognized as her 'You're an idiot' glare.

"Interesting." She said as she stood back up. "Why were you running from the dratini when you had some form of protection?"

"That was a _dragon_ pokémon," he stressed the word _dragon_ , like one would emphasize the word 'huge'. "They are known to eat and destroy and kill and wreck and-"

"Eat?" Pep chuckled when her mind caught up with his mention of the word. This man's fear of dragons was… well, she couldn't think of a better word than 'stupid' and 'stupid.' More people were afraid of bug pokémon and ghost types, but to be afraid dragons. Especially when that fear extended to the particular type that was chasing him. "Dratini doesn't even have a mouth." She huffed. Well, they did, but they didn't use it often.

"…" It didn't? He quickly looked through his memories and remembered that no, it didn't. Shit, she had a point. "When it evolves it gets a mouth." He bluffed, hoping that he was right. He didn't study dragon pokémon enough to know them all, but he recognized it when he saw one. He can't remember what dratini's evolution line looked like though.

Pepper didn't waste a moment for her comeback, "Dragonair doesn't have a mouth either." She crossed her arms confidently.

"It doesn't?" he asked curiously. He quickly brushed that off and went back to defend his fear, "It probably grows claws or something."

"And?" she challenged. Doesn't he realize that the dratini, as it is, wasn't threatening?

"W-w-well…" he didn't have to explain his fears to this-this… woman! "It could have strangled me! Or crushed me! Or used some move on me!" he quickly put himself into an aggressive position, this time startling the woman that was testing his patience.

Pepper allowed herself to smile, and let Arlin keep his little explanation. "Whatever. C'mon, cabin boy!" she turned face, and began walking. With all the ruckus they were making, she doubted Zoroark stuck around. Probably long gone by now.

"Huh?" Arlin watched as the braided boy gave him a quiet wave of good bye, and the two walk away. They were just going to leave him? What if there were more dratini around?! "Wait for me!" he ran ahead to catch up.

She ignored him and continued walking. Yuki followed face.

"I said wait!" he sprinted faster, "PEPPER!"

The sound of her name hitting her ears made her stop in her tracks.

He caught up quickly when she stopped, and stood on the other side of Yuki.

She slowly turned around, the small droplets of water were the only thing to be heard, echoing off the walls.

"You know who I am?" she asked slowly.

"Yes." He replied confidently. "Pepper Checks, captain of a fleet of pirates, stolen several rare and valuable items, a master ball included, and caught herself a legendary with said masterball-"

"Ok ok ok, I believe you!" she nearly winced at all the information thrown at her. Interestingly enough though… "Why aren't you trying to call the cops on me or something?"

"I know that the news tend to exaggerate things, and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt." He shrugged.

Pepper was silently thinking this over in her head, if her stoic face and posture was any indication. Then out of nowhere, she jumped towards him and leaned her face forward, closer to his.

"How would you feel about becoming a pirate?" she asked, excitement glowing in her eyes.

"A…pirate?" Where did that come from? He wasn't sure he was prepared to join with a criminal organization today!

"Aye!" she held up a hand like a hook, squinting one eye jokingly.

Arlin looked to the side to see Yuki's face, an equally confused look on his, "I was actually on my way to Kanto to test my strength…"

"Well, you've already proved yourself worthy!" not really… they hadn't even seen his pokémon yet, or his Class. "C'mon! It comes with healthcare and free meals."

Arlin began thinking about food and the last time he ate. When was that? This morning? And all his rations had fallen out of his pocket. "Well… Alright. But don't make me regret this." He said as though he held all the cards here.

She looked towards Yuki and pointed her arm to the dark haired boy. "You have a new apprentice!" she grinned before walking off again. "Congratulations! I hope you two are happy together!"

""Er…"" the two boys said in unison, looking at each other awkwardly.

She continued n. "I'm pretty sure Zoroark is gone by now anyways…" she sighed, scratching her head. "You two get acquainted, and meet me at the Pokémon Centre soon." She turned to the new member of her crew and gave him a spine chilling grin as she pointed a single finger at him. "I pay well, so don't run off now."

And she was gone with the quick use of an escape rope.

"Uh…" That was odd, she usually didn't invite people on so quickly. What was it that made him catch her interest?

"So, I'm joining you guys…?" Arlin questioned.

"I guess," Yuki turned to the new boy with an odd look, "Welcome to the team, Arlin."

Arlin smiled cheekily, "Call me Lin."

Maybe being on the team wouldn't be so bad. This way he would see first hand what this group is all about. They probably weren't stinky pirates the news made them sound like.

As Pepper reappeared outside, she looked around and quickly ushered herself to a slightly more remote part of town where it was less likely for someone to eavesdrop on her. Even if someone did call the police on her, she can still call Sanctuary at the Pokémon Centre.

Well, that Zoroark had slipped through her fingers one too many times for her liking. It was time to call _that guy._

She pulled her pokégear out of her bag and pressed in the buttons by memory. Ugh, she hadn't used this number in a long time, but it should be right.

Brushing away the thick messy hair, she held the item to her ear and waited for someone to pick up.

 _Riiiiiing_

 _Riii-_

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…you there?" she asked hesitantly into the silent phone.

One knock was heard on the other line.

"Hey, how are you?" She asked as though they were on buddy-buddy terms with each other. She leaned onto the nearest surface, the side of a steep mountain, and casually talked to the man who had caught her interest oh-so-many years ago, "I need to ask a favour of you, Albus, sweetie..."

 **End Chp6**

* * *

 **A/n: I've been feeling sick, so I'm lucky this chapter was pretty much all written out beforehand. Since I still feel sick, next week's update might happen in 2 weeks instead. Damn bunch of candy on sale, I need to find myself a celery stick…**

 **That's pretty much it for Pepper's crew… Next chapter is Sal again.**

(Masayuki Yukimaru(Yuki)-Nightfall-sensei)

(Arlin Stone(Lin)-N-V-F Devran) (Also his own intro idea)

(Albus ?(sweetie)-W.R Winters)

 **Happy Hallow's Eve!**


	7. Ch7 SC

**Review Guest Reply-THE CREATOR: May I suggest using a public library computer?**

 **A/n: Thanks for the get well wishes! Turns out that I was having an allergic reaction to the candy. 'May contain traces of peanuts' has some consistency to it… Good to know!**

* * *

 **Chp7 SC**

It was the next morning for Sal and Val, the two of them had began walking leisurely towards their Johto destination with an early start. Yes, they could simply Fly over to the other region, but Sal didn't fully know why he was going, so this was his time to figure out why.

Orval told him not to think so much about it and just do it.

Come to think of it, Orval seemed very enthusiastic about this whole thing.

"-Person A will go in disguised and apply to become the janitor. He'll work there for a few months, listen in to everyone's conversations, learn all the codes, and then when person A is ready, they'll help person B sneak in, then there you go! We've infiltrated!"

Sal chuckled softly, kicking a rock on the dirt path as they continued on their way. "Then what?"

"Once we're both inside, we'll have to knock someone out and steal their grunt uniforms-"

"They don't wear uniforms," Sal replied, fully aware he was being a hard ass.

"-I mean we'll nab a professor's lab coat and glasses, share the codes, key cards, retina's, finger prints, or whatever they use, then we'll-"

"SALT CHECKS!"

Both teens nearly jumped from their skin when they heard the banshee like shriek, Sal feeling especially one chilled since it was his name being shouted. He could already feel the goosebumps rising on his arms.

Who would be shouting his name so angrily?!

Sal gather the nerve to look in the same direction as his friend, seeing a woman wearing a long black sleeve shirt with a tight white vest that accented her large bust, and tight black jeans that were long and flared at the bottom.

Her outstandingly long black hair waved behind her as she jogged forward, but Sal was sure it could reach to the back of her legs no problem, but her bangs weren't quite as long, only reaching down to her chin and covering the right side of her face. Then the bottom half of her face was covered up by a blue scarf that reached just as far as her hair. The only visible part of her face being her left blue eye, which was still difficult to see at this distance with black oval frames covering them.

The long haired woman was stomping towards him with precise erect steps, which was impressive since she was wearing 4 inch stilettos that looked painful. "CHECKS! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" she shouted again, an absol galloping by her side.

Wait, he getting a flashback of his mother running towards him angrily when he was a boy.

"Eclipse!" shouted the other girl that was tagging along behind the first one, "You can't just yell at people!" she had wavy light red hair that parted in the middle of her face. Her skin was light, which showed off the freckled littered across her cheeks much easier. She was almost exactly the same height as her friend, but that was just a guess since they were both running from a distance and the new girl was a little further behind than the dark haired one.

She wore a black sleeveless top with a high neck underneath a cropped blue vest. Around her neck was a necklace with a small pokéball ornamenting it. Her black and blue stripped skirt waved as she ran towards the woman looking out of breath, probably due to the heavy looking brown backpack she had on.

But at least she was wearing hiking boots instead of stilettoes.

"Eclipse, let's just leave him alone…" the girl whined as she tugged lightly at the girl's dark sleeve.

The first woman, Eclipse, ran up to him, quickly did a twice over on his person, then whipped the brochure in her hand in front of his face, and the page had a profile of Sal, with what could possible pass as a mug shot of him, with a bold underlined **Champion** under it in red. "This is you, correct?" she asked.

"…yes…" he answered carefully and hesitantly, tilting his head as he did.

Even though her hair covered the right side of her face, and the blue scarf covered the bottom half, Sal could still see her smirk.

"Looks like you were right, Dinnie," Eclipse snickered to her friend, waving the brochure in her hand like it was a million bucks. "This is the champion."

The redhead, Dinnie, ignored Eclipse and sighed with exaggeration. "I told her I thought I saw the champion, and she suddenly started running for your autograph o something."

"What? Why the hell would I want his autograph?" She groaned at her friend, looking at her like she was a dunce, which she was sometimes, but still.

Eclipse narrowed her eyes, turned back to the shock stilled men, and pointed her finger towards him and jumped back in one fluid motion. The absol followed the girls motion, taking an aggressive battle-ready stance. "I, Eclipse Bergmann, challenge you to a battle!" she called from across the road where she jumped to.

Orval finally talked in a disbelieving, almost impressed, way, "Did you two really recognize him from the behind?" he asked. The roads weren't exclusive to the four of them, but to single him out like that? Sure, he could so that too, but they had an outdated picture of Sal's face, not his back.

The red head nodded, "I have a good eye," She said confidently, quickly pointing her finger at her forest green eyes.

"Woah, that's impressive, Dinnie!" he enthused.

"H-huh?" she frowned at the nickname that people insistently called her. "My name is Nadine Aliah Becker. Not Dinnie," She corrected.

"Eh-heh, oops. Sorry," He laughed bashfully. "My name is Orval Sycamore, but you can call me Val."

"Sycamore?" she queried. "Does that mean your related to Professor Sycamore from Kalos? I was actually reading a biography about him not too long ago."

"Eh-heh, I get that a lot, but I'm don't think I'm related to him. Common name I guess. I actually have two last names! Sycamore just sounds better than Ashemite," He responded with a smile.

"" _Are you two done flirting?""_ Both Eclipse and Sal said in unison.

Jumping out of their conversation, they both stuttered and waved their arms in front of them, mirroring each other almost perfectly.

"N-no! I didn't…"

"W-we weren't… I wasn't!" they both fought for words.

Eclipse rolled her eyes and coughed a laugh. "Weirdos."

"Yours too, huh?" Sal murmured with mirth.

She laughed darkly as she turned her body to face him, then gave him stone silence as they faced off against each other. "Don't change the subject," she let all laughter from her demeanor fade away before she pointed at him with a challenging face, "Fight me!"

Sal huffed with amusement when he realized it was just another challenger. Nothing to be frightened about, "No can do," she looked like she was going to argue so he beat her to the punch, "I have the right to deny your challenge unless you have at least eight Kanto and/or Johto badges."

She growled and began digging into her pockets, looking for something.

Crap, did she really have eight badges?

"I only have four Kanto and two Johto," She showed off the open two separate cases as proof, "But fight me anyways! I have all the badges from Sinnoh, and I defeated the champion there too!"

Sal groaned. "Look, lady-"

"-Rude. My name is Eclipse Bergmann!" she snapped back. If he wasn't going to battle her then she had no reason to be nice. "Learn it. I already said it once."

"Right. Eclipse," He humoured her with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "I can't accept your challenge. Official League Rules state that the Champion can deny any challenger who doesn't have eight local badges," He stated of-matter-of-factly. As much as he would like to test out his skill against a fellow champion, officially or not, he didn't feel like being bothered with such a thing now while traveling to Johto.

"B-but…" well, there goes her shortcut to battling the champion. She had no trouble with going to fight the local badges, but the champion was _right there_.

A certain dirty-blonde buddy decided to make himself known at that time. "Hey, we're on our way to Johto! Absol can sense trouble, so they can be useful, Sal! And as a plus for you, Eclipse, while we're there Sal is under Official League Rules to accept any challenger with or without any ba-mmmmph?!" The champion had jumped behind his friend and covered Orval's mouth, cutting off anymore loose information.

"He's losing it, don't listen to him," Sal deadpanned as he held the man in a vice grip, no matter how hard the light haired man struggled.

"Mmmmh?!" Orval looked at Sal with hurt eyes.

"Wait…" Eclipse said with faint hope, fishing out a different brochure, one with more pages and less pictures, "He's right! It says here," she pointed to the open page where it stated the basic rules for the region, "that a Kanto Champion can't transfer over their status to Johto." _And visa-versa._ "So…"

"Fuuuuuuuuuuu-"

"I'm following you until then!" she stated proudly.

"-uuuuuuuuck…."

He knew that was coming the second Orval started talking(flirting) with the redhead.

* * *

Sal was pleasantly surprised ( _not_ ) that Orval and Nadine got along swimmingly well, even writing down little notes to each other, Nadine claiming that it was simply a list of books they were recommending to each other. Orval seemed reclusive to suggest many books, but he did list off a few factual books while Nadine's interest seemed to lie within comedy driven novels and lesser known authors.

Sal felt a small pang of jealously towards the girl. Orval was his friend, not hers.

No, he wasn't going to show his petty jealousy. He was allowed to make friends, even if it was with a girl.

Sal opted to silently wallow in his self pity.

He was going to lose his friend.

"So when are they going to fuck?" Eclipse stage whispered to him. The busty girl had decided to walk right next to him, almost too close for his comfort, and he could only guess that it was so she could catch him in case he tried to run away…

Or something to that extent.

He was a little put off by her closeness and scrutinizing gaze, and he even went as far as to call his own four legged Luxray to keep the opposing Absol at bay just in case. He felt a little intimidated by the woman, not even wanting to check out her absol into his dex just in case… in case…uh… she got…angry?

Another sense of de ja vu of him trying to be sneaky around his mother.

The tall 17-year-old scoffed at her rash remark. Honestly, if she had been referring to just about anyone else, he would have laughed, but this was on a more personal level. He didn't respond, not wanting to get too friendly with the woman who brought the girl that is slowly stealing his friend away. He went for the ' _I'll acknowledge your existence, but I won't interact with it'_ approach with her.

Eclipse knew he wasn't going to reply when he merely scoffed, so she didn't dwell on it when her remark was only met with silence and ignorance on everyone else's part.

The two behind them continued with their gossiping… Well, she didn't actually know what they were talking about, but it sounded like they were discussing people. Not her, she would recognize her own name being spoken from a mile away, but it still grated on her nerves slightly. Not enough to bother her though. It was like a buzz that wasn't so uncomfortable that she needed to do something, but enough to make itself known to her.

"So what are we going to Johto for?" She asked Sal, trying to focus on something else.

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the plain dirt road in front of them.

"You don't have to be rude" She sighed exaggeratedly, "If you don't want to talk to me, then just say so."

Sal gave her a sidelong glance, then looked conflicted for a moment. He's been tricked like this before. Someone tells him he can do something, then suddenly he's not allowed to do it… Meh, he was willing to take his chances, "I don't want to talk to you," He quickly said.

"WOW!" she huffed as she stepped in front of him, successfully preventing him from walking along. The other two also stopped, even though nothing was blocking their path. It seemed like Sal was the alpha of this little group, but she was willing to challenge that. Yeah, she was only at 5'6, and he towered over her, but her attitude and four inch shoes could make up the difference, "Just…WOW! You know, the brochure mentioned you were a little anti-social, but this is a new level. I mean, come on! Show some respect!"

Val coughed in the background uncomfortably, but kept on with talking to Nadine. ' _Maybe'_ he thought, _'if I moved the conversation into a different direction, things would become less tense._ ' He continued his conversation he was carrying out with Nadine more loudly so the rest of the party could hear. "So anyways!" he turned back to Nadine and began walking again, and the other two followed suit.

Eclipse seemed a little bitter about being brushed off by everyone, but she stayed silent as Orval talked.

"I read a book a-about… err… a book about… myths. All sorts of myths!" he suddenly seemed flustered for no apparent reason, "There was this one myth I found interesting… it explained that there's these things called 'Red Strings of Fate.' Apparently everyone has a red string tied around their pinky, and the other end it tied to their soul mate's pinky!" he explained to Nadine while waggling his pinky around in front of her. He even gave a charming smile to try and see if she was catching on to his flirting attempts.

"Really?" Nadine inquired obliviously. She made sure her steps matched with Orval's, and looked to the sky with a thoughtful expression on her face. "You know, I actually read something like that before. I think it was called 'Love Reaches Any-"

"-ANYWAYS YOU CAN'T SEETHESTRINGSORANYTHINGandcouldweplease change the subject…?" He suddenly burst out with a look that could only be described as embarrassment. None of the group could guess why.

' _He probably likes hearing the sound of his own voice,'_ Eclipse thought cynically. "Hey, be nicer to her, she didn't do anything wrong."

"Be nice to him, he didn't do anything wrong either," Sal defended his friend with nonchalance, almost like it was a reflex. He looked briefly at his pinky and thought he could feel a string tied around it. Although that could just be his imagination since the story was intriguing to him and fresh in his mind. It would be interesting if he could physically touch the string and find out where it led to.

If the string way touchable, would everyone be obsessed with finding their _soul mate_ above all else?

He wondered if his string connected to anybody he knew.

"Don't you tell me what to do!"

"Eclipse! It's okay!"

"She's right, I'm sorry, Nadine!"

Sal idly flicked his fingers.

Probably not.

* * *

 **A/n: Back to weekly updates! YEAAAAAAAH**

 **Holy hell though, I could feel myself slipping off the schedule, almost didn't bother writing this chapter I was so off beat. BUT! Sometimes I guess you just need to force yourself to sit and start writing, then the rest will come.**

 **(Orval Sycamore Ashemite(Val)-SevillaBoy)**

 **(Eclipse Bergmann-EclipseKuran)**

 **(Nadine Aliah Becker(Naddie)-RedHead Person)**


	8. Ch8 SC

**A/n: It takes longer to write longish chapters…who knew?**

* * *

Chapter 8: SC

The next stop was in Celadon City, and Sal took the chance to set up a new pokégear while they were there. Nadine and Orval were really hitting it off, so those two went off on their own happy way, clothes shopping or something, while he went to set up a new pokégear with Eclipse tagging along. She looked conflicted as her redheaded friend walked off with the boy, but had ultimately decided that hanging out with the champion was the best course of action.

"No pokémon inside," a curt bald man told them as the door dings, signalling their entrance. The two four legged pokémon looked slightly insulted, but both knew better than to show any agitation.

Rolling their eyes, they reluctantly capsuled their pokémon.

He was didn't like thinking about Orval and Nadine's quickly growing relationship. It was almost unnatural, but apparently those two were made just right for each other. He tried to ignore it, distract himself onto other things, but nothing seemed to work. What could get hid mind off things?

He could accept Eclipse's challenge…

No, it was too late in the game to accept it now, and he didn't want to seem like he caved under her pressure. But maybe he could pass it off as an acknowledgment of her stubbornness, and say that he might as well battle her and get it over with.

Actually, that didn't sound too bad. She get's her battle, he get's his best friend back. Win/win situation.

Then a little voice from long ago drifted into his mind.

' _Always stand your ground! Don't give in to anybody.'_

That little bit of advice stuck with him a lot, whether he liked it or not.

' _Even when it's you?_ ' _he asked when he was only six years old, a foot smaller than Pepper._

' _Ummm….' His sister pretended to think about it, acting like she didn't expect the comeback from her little smart ass of a brother, 'Except for me_ ,' _she concluded the verdict_ , ' _and those you trust. Like Mom and Dad.'_

He made himself focus on something visual to take his mind off his thoughts. He's been told many times that thinking too much is dangerous, but it's one of those things he can't seem to turn off, no matter how easy people made it sound.

Something he can see…Eclipse was two feet away browsing the store, but never drifting too far away from him.

The clerk was pacing around the store, obviously waiting for someone to ask him for help. He asked a few people if they needed help, but they assured him that they were only browsing. The man's agitation was slowly making itself known on his face.

Sal focused on the shiny pokégear in his hand, an older model with only the basic necessities. It looked small in his hand, but he was sure it wouldn't matter when he smashed it in a fit of rage come a month or two.

He really needed to work on his anger issues.

Hah, yeah right.

"…" he rolled the phone around in his hand.

Maybe he really did need to let out his frustration with something. It's been building up for a while now, and he hasn't let himself or his pokémon battle for about a two weeks now.

His mind drifted back to accepting the challenge from Eclipse. Should he? There weren't any state rules against it, but it had become more of a personal rule as time went by. Even his sister had all of Kanto and Johto's badges before she went rogue, not that she thought to challenge the champion Lance, her mind was obviously elsewhere, but she still had all sixteen.

Hmmm… How many badges did Nadine have?

Dammit, he was thinking again.

He walked up to the worker, finally taking pity on the man. There were two people at the check out who looked at him thankfully. "I'll take this one."

"Excellent!" he said with something between relief and impatience.

"Finally." Eclipse huffed.

He took his wallet out, and then flipped his way through all the gift cards that were jammed in there and stuck together. He pulled a blue one off, a gift card that would knock down the price for any poké tech. Ryan had given him this one on his last birthday, telling him that he seemed to have bad luck with technology.

…A phone case would have been more efficient.

He handed the gift card to the man, and paid for the rest with whatever bills he could scavenge up. He spent a lot when restocking on items, and he wasn't thinking about future purchases.

With a small €100 left in his wallet, not even enough for a standard pokéball if he were to want one. He gingerly put it in his back pocket loosely and went through the setting up of the phone for the twentieth time. The long haired girl next to him played with her strands impatiently, tapping her foot and keeping her eyes focused on everything around the store.

She seemed impatient, but at least she wasn't being too impolite about it. When he told her how he broke his phone, when his ex-mentor ratted him out to the media, she seemed to understand.

But that tapping foot of hers that insistently clacked away on the tiles...

It was grating on his nerves.

She knew that.

And he knew she knew that.

And she knew he knew she knew that.

And so on.

But oddly enough, they seemed to be in an unspoken truce of behaving in front of the public eye.

"And… you're all set up!" the man happily handed him his phone, along with the contract and receipt. When the man wasn't impatiently waiting for someone to help, he still seemed in a rush for Sal to move and to let him help the next person. "Call if you have any questions!" he then turned to Eclipse, "What can I help you with?"

"I'm with him," she said curtly as she pointed a single digit towards Sal.

"Oh…" his somewhat welcoming face then turned back to the impatient man who was walking up and down the isles of the small store, "ok. Bye."

They left without a word.

Eclipse was quick to break the silence when they walked two steps out the door, "Give me your number."

"Gimmie gimmie's never get, don't you know-"

"Oh my god! How immature are you?!"

Sal laughed, glad to get the woman's mind off his phone number, "Youngest child, it's something you never grow out of."

"Yeah right, I'm the third oldest out of six kids, and I'm not immature."

"No, that would put you more into the oldest/middle child field." He smirked in her direction, "Meaning you should be responsible like the eldest child, and attention seeking like the middle child."

"W-what?! Don't you profile me!" she stammered and pointed accusingly.

' _You think too much,'_ one side of his mind pestered him. "Right. Closed off and doesn't want to discuss your personal life." He continued, feeling a tad sadistic.

"Stop it!"

"You're following me, just for a stupid battle, and your telling me how to behave… You're used to getting your way."

Her absol got defensive and began snarling at the human who was begrudging his trainer.

She stuck her fingers in her ear and began singing obnoxiously, "LALALALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

"Now who's childish?" Sal laughed.

* * *

A shadowy figure comes out of the shadows, watching as Salt Checks walked by with a woman, "There he is." The figure said with satisfaction. After looking for the champion for so long, finding him was very fulfilling. But the next phase was; How were they going to meet?

Not wanting to come off as a groupie or news reporter, a more… subtle approach would be the desired plan of action.

Looking around the lightly crowded streets, guessing that it was time school got out and everyone was either picking their kid up or they were walking themselves home. His eyes zero'd in on a scruffy looking child. It wasn't long until their eyes met.

' _He'll do_ _perfectly_ ,' was the thought when the child came forward on his own.

"What were you looking at me for?" the scruffy child asked, trying to sound rough.

It actually came off as sort of cute.

A soaked street raticate sort of cute.

"How would you like to make a quick buck?" flashing €200 out and waving it in front of the child's face.

As though in a daze, the mangy kid nodded.

* * *

Sal was looking around coffee shops, clothing store's, the regular mart, and he still could not find Orval!

"Where the hell did they go?" Eclipse asked as she turned her head side to side like she would see them if she kept turning. "I don't want to call her in this busy street…" she said as she looked at her pokégear.

"Could she even hear you with that scarf over your mouth?"

Eclipse glared, then locked eyed with him as she pushed her glasses up with her middle finger.

"I'll take that as a no." Sal deadpanned.

"I'm done with you."

He snapped his fingers as though his brilliant plan was foiled. "Aw, even that battle? Shucks, I was so looking forward to that."

"Fuck you."

"Love you." He mocked.

"Ugh…so immature…"

Sal laughed at agitating the woman. He didn't know why he enjoyed taunting women, if he had to hazard a guess, it would be because of his own bad experience with female reporters mixed in with his sister and mother.

As annoyed as Eclipse seemed to be, Sal saw a hint of enjoyment in her eyes. Even though she tried to cover her face, he saw it.

So he didn't feel so bad about bugging her.

As Eclipse was about to make another snarky comeback, a small kid bumped into him and pushed him into Eclipse, causing her to stagger a few steps.

The kid, looking no older than nine, quickly apologized, "Sorry," then he rushed off again for one reason or another.

Sal looked back to see the quickly retreating figure that was running down the streets, not able to get a decent face description. Huh, wonder what he's in a rush for.

"THEIF!" Came a new distressed voice.

The two looked towards the source of the voice, seeing a woman (depending on how you looked at it. It was one of those 'they could be 15 or 23' situations). She wore an thin black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up, a white dress shirt underneath and the cuffs flipped around the sleeve. The slender individual wore black jeans that lead into a pair of brown hiking boots, which looked worn and torn from what Sal could only guess, a lot of traveling.

Her black hair was tied into an small unrefined ponytail, and the bangs would probably hang about her feminine face if the right side wasn't pinned to the side, and the half seemed to consistently fall out of place from behind the left side. Sal suddenly found himself making eye contact her. The woman's sea green eyes reminding him vaguely of a cat's.

"Did that boy bump into you?"

Or maybe a snake's.

Sal nodded with a look of worry, "Yes."

"Check your pockets." She prompted.

"…" Sal quickly checked to see that, no, his wallet was not where he kept it.

"Ergh," the person quickly dashed ahead in search for the boy.

"Wha…hey wait!" Sal needed to do his part as well! He was the champion for fuck's sake! He should be the one to chase after criminals!

Sal began booking it, but cat eyed woman was pretty agile while running around the lightly crowded streets, with seemingly little to no effort. The orange clad man could only try and keep up.

The champion finally caught up, and saw that the adolescent from before was now being pinned by the woman who was chasing him.

"And don't you steal again!" she warned in a deep growl. Huh, a bit of a deep voice for a girl.

The boy under her was stuttering for words before he nodded quietly and booked it into the streets as the dark haired teen let him off with a warning.

"I believe this is yours, Champ." They tossed his wallet towards Sal.

"Thanks…" he muttered as he shifted the brown material open to make sure all five of his gift cards were still there, along with his flavour pack, and €100. Eclipse had finally caught up and looked slightly out of breath, but still asked Sal if he got his money back. He nodded in confirmation then turned his attention back to his hero of sorts, "Did you get your stuff back too?"

The short haired girl waved €200 in front of her like a fan, "Oh yeah, I did."

Sal sighed, "That's good. I owe you one."

"You owe me, huh?" she mused, "How about a pokémon battle?"

"Yeah," he snorted, "pick something else."

"Hm?" she tilted her head curiously.

"I have a kind of strict eight badge rule."

"Awe…please?"

"I'm sorry, miss," he shrugged, "but I keep to my 8 badge rule against everyone." When she looked at him oddly, he was sure that she was going to continue pestering him about it. Hmm, women usually stop pestering him when he compliments them. "No matter how pretty you are, the answer no."

"…"

The newcomer was silent.

Her face was blank, so he couldn't tell what her silence meant.

Sal began feeling guilty for saying no. Did he hurt her feelings? Or maybe she wasn't used to being complimented. Or maybe she was star struck by being complimented by The Champion. He admitted, if he were in her shoes, he would feel quite shocked too.

"khh…..khhh…" her shoulders began shaking. "kuh…."

Oh shit! Did he really hurt her feeling?! Sal held up his hands in worry, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings….b-but…" but what? Ugh, he wasn't good with women.

"KYAH HA HAH HAH HA!" she began laughing in full force.

"…" Now Sal was silent. His face slowly heated up in both confusion and anger. What was she laughing about?!

"I-I'm…s-s-s-orry… I just didn't expect the Champion to call me _pretty._..kkhhh…KAH HA!" more laughter.

"…" Maybe she wasn't used to being complimented?

The laughing went on for a little while.

Even Eclipse started laughing under her breath after a while.

The girl's laughter eventually died down enough for Sal to hear her talk properly as she looked at him with a bemused look, "I'm actually a guy…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Eclipse continued laughing. Wait?! Did she know this whole time?!

"So, does that still mean I need eight badges? No matter how…pfft, pretty I am?"

This is why he needs to stay away from girls, even when they're guys, "I stand by my rule." He crossed his arms. How dare this woma…. How dare this man embarrass him!

"Alright then," he swiftly flashed his badge case out, showing all eight Johto badges, shiny and new "I trust that this will suffice?"

Sal swiped them from his hold and looked at them critically, making sure they were all legitimate.

"…"

…Crap.

"Your opponent and soon to be champion, Isaak Akabane, challenges you to a battle!" Isaak shouted dramatically.

"God dammit." He stepped back and couldn't keep his eyes off Isaak's snake like ones.

* * *

The three of them had gone to the outskirts of town to battle so not to disturb the civilians. Sal had tried to talk his way out of it, telling the Isaak that he'll have to make a rain check, but Isaak kept waving the excuses off.

Sal groaned as he clutched his stomach, "I'm not feeling very well, I don't think I can battle to my full potential, that's not fair to you."

Isaak shrugged, "Don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I have an appointment in a few minutes, I don't want to be late."

"I'm sure they can reschedule for you."

"My friends are lost; I need to find them."

"With the ruckus we'll be making, it'll be hard for them not to find you."

"I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations."

"No, wait, I jus got my period. Ooh! Cramps! My vagina hurts!" he grabbed his crotch like it had been kicked and fell to the ground over-dramatically.

Isaak finally stopped and turned to look at the dark haired man on the ground, rolling his eyes at him, "Okay, now this is just sad."

"Really?" he bounced back to his feet, "I thought I crossed that bridge when I was pregnant."

He rolled his eyes and pulled out two pokéball's, "What kind of battle do you suggest?"

Sal thought about briefly about it. He usually battled one-on-one, but he had been practicing a certain strategy set that he's been meaning to try out… "Double battle, no items or switching out," He confirmed.

"No switching out, as in no third pokémon?"

"No third pokémon." Sal affirmed.

Isaak scratched his neck, "Don't we need a referee?"

The two simultaneously looked towards Eclipse expectedly.

She gave them both a look that had ' _freeze in hell'_ written all over it.

They continued looking at her with the same look.

"…fine..."

Isaak pumped a fist in enthusiasm. "I'll be taking that nice little title of yours, Checks."

"Bring it, Akabane!" he shouted, waving a fist towards his opponent.

"This will be a two on two battle, only two pokémon for this battle! No stand in pokémon! When a pokémon has fainted, they are disqualified! Yadda Yadda! The trainer with the last pokémon standing wins!"

"Go, Luxray! You too, Alakazam!" he ordered, and the two simultaneously came out next to each other. Alakazam twirled his spoons in front of him and hovered over the air, and Luxray let out a battle cry as he looked ready to pounce.

Isaak didn't even need to think which of his team to use, he knew enough about the champion to quickly know which pokémon he would use. "Quagmire! Akira!" he threw the two capsules out to the field, and out came a slothy quagmire, and a battle ready Scizor.

They stood.

They waited.

It was apparent that they were both waiting for their opponent to move first.

"…"

"…"

Then, almost in perfect harmony, they both commanded their pokémon to move at the same time.

"Akira! Go in from behind and use Bullet Punch! Quagmire, Curse!"

"Luxray! Get in close for a Thunder Wave, Alakazam, standby!"

Isaak knew he had no hope in his quagsire, Quagmire, to match either the Luxray or Alakazam in speed, so he encouraged him to use Curse. Akira, while was still slow in comparison to the adversaries, had a better chance than Quagmire.

This is where Isaak had the upper hand. He knew Salt's strategy's, he's seem his matches on the Pokémon Centre's tv from time to time, and he knows how his thinking works.

And Salt had zero idea about Isaak's own tactics and moves.

The scizor was buzzing forward head on, looking as though it were ready to butt heads against the incoming Luxray. The angular man knew that right after the luxray let out Thunder Wave, he would dig itself under then find a blind spot to jump out of with the help of Salt.

"Now!" Salt called, and a heavy

"Do it!" Isaak shouted the moment he saw Salt's mouth open.

Just as Luxray let out a crackle of electricity around him in a decent radius, Akira quickly buzzed behind him, almost as though she had teleported there. The electricity had barely radiated off of Akira's steely armour when she began to strike at him repeatedly into the ground.

"Damn…" the opposing champion muttered under his breath, but Isaak could clearly see him from his lips at this distance. "Alakazam, standby," he reminded the pokémon when he looked like he wanted to jump in to help. "Luxray, Crunch!"

"Quagmire, Stockpile. Akira, Bug Bite, and quick!" Isaak smiled with pride as his scizor hastened itself to clamp onto Luxray's fur while he did the same to her steely skin.

They seemed to be going on a one-one battle so far, both their second pokémon biding on the side. Admittedly, Isaak never saw the champion do double battle, but he can still manage. It looked as though Sal's strategy didn't change much when there was two pokémon instead of one.

Too bad.

Luxray wasn't moving an inch, glaring intensely at the scizor in front of it with an equally intense look with their jaws locked onto each other. He then let out a buzz of electricity when he felt blood drawing from the bite.

"Let go!" Isaak commanded.

Just as planned, the scizor released it's hold and yanked itself back.

Predictably, Luxray had quickly dug itself into the ground the second it was free.

"So predictable…" Isaak chuckled as he talked aloud, letting himself bathe in his quick glory.

"Huh?" Sal looked at the man with confusion, but the realization hit him quickly when his eyes traveled to the quagsire.

Isaak took in the look of shock and horror on Sal's face before he let out the command.

"EARTHQUAKE!" he shouted elatedly. Yes! He was able to take out the champions best pokémon with one fell swoop! Too easy!

The quagsire raised a heavy foot up, ready to stomp it down to create immense damage on the electric type in the ground. The movement seemed to pass by in slow motion to Isaak, his heart racing eratically at how quickly he defeated him.

Just as the opposing quagmire was ready to stomp down, the champion directed his attention to Alakazam with a nervous smile, "Ally Swap!"

' _Wait,'_ Isaak looked on with interest _, 'what?'_

Isaak quickly looked towards the Alakazam who had been silently on the sidelines, much like his own Quagmire. Alakazam used a move that looked like teleport, but as he faded out, Luxray faded into his place.

Luxray had looked as though he had been there the whole time, and had braced itself for the incoming tremors. The scizor stayed in the air, and all the trainers had prepared themselves for the incoming Earthquake.

The ground rumbled, and visually, only Luxray was having trouble with this attack, but he endured. Sal didn't even want to think how much Alakazam's brain was being rattled.

When it was done and over with, Alakazam came out from the ground looking very faint and dizzy as it stumbled to keep it's footing.

Isaak called to the referee, "It's down! Out!" he waved his arms horizontally as referee's would often do when a pokémon fainted.

"Hush," She called back as she kept a close eye on the fox, "I make the calls here."

Salt didn't wait for the referee's judgment before he continued commanding the pokémon, having faith that he was fine, "Alakazam, get up and use Hidden Power on the blue one!"

' _Blue one_?' Isaak thought cynically. " _Quagmire_ ," he made sure to pronounce the name loudly for Salt to hear, "protect yourself with Waterfall!"

Quagmire inhale and steady it's body, readying itself to gush bouts of water from the ground before the quickly incoming orbs made contact. The orbs were too close for Quagmire's comfort, so he unleashed the waterfall around him defensively to disintegrate the opponents attack.

The waterfall was useless though, taking Isaak off guard. "WHAT?!" he shouted as the orbs seemed to increase its power with the surrounding waterfall, hitting Quagmire even harder.

Sal smiled and crossed his arms. Heh, he was lucky that Hidden Power was a grass type, something his opponent didn't seem to know.

Isaak winced as Quagmire hit the ground, but spared a glance in the alakazam's direction. He was vulnerable and would go in down in one, maybe two, hits. He gave quick orders to the bug type "Akira, do whatever you have to do to take Alakazam down!"

Akira zoomed towards the fox, readying herself for bullet punch. Scizor may be slower than alakazam's, but she knew she could reach him before he could move out of the way.

"Luxray, Wild Charge!"

He bagn racing towards Akira, charging its body with electricity.

Eclipse had decided to pull out her pokédex after Alakazam seemed fine. She hadn't the chance to scan either pokémon, and it was something that was poking at her since the battle began.

Isaak's pokémon have to be fairly high leveled if they're able to keep on par with Sal like this. She decided to scan Sal's first, seeing his Luxray was at an even 68 and Alakazam, and the Alakazam was close behind at 64. She went to Isaak's pokémon, raising a brow at the number it showed. 65 and 66. She did a low impressed whistle.

' _That's pretty close to my level_.' She thought.

She watched the battle go on, Scizor (Akira) taking a hit, but getting back up. Alakazam charging another Hidden power against Quagsire (Quagmire), but hitting the orbs and freezing them in it's tracks with Ice Beam. Seem's Isaak learned from last time.

She was pulled from her thought's when she heard screaming.

The inaudible shouted were getting closer.

She turned around to find the source, and saw red hair in the distance as it got closer. It was Nadine, and she was by herself.

"SALT! ECLIPSE!"

"Huh?" Sal looked towards the voice, along with everyone else on the field, pokémon included.

When she got closer she began talking with a frantic look in her eyes, "You need to help us!" she pleaded, leaping towards Sal as she got within range. Her eyes were widened, pupils dilated with fright. Sal curiously looked back, seeing if there was something chasing her, only to find nothing.

Wait.

There was nothing behind her.

Where's Orval?

"What happened?!" he asked her desperately, roughly grabbing the girl by the shoulders to straighten her out and look hr in the eye. "Tell me!"

"T-They…. Orval… we were… w-we…it…I should have…" she mumbling between her chills.

"Naddie, what's wrong?" Eclipse asked, (not so) subtly trying to push Sal's hand off her shoulder.

She began tugging at her curly hair, making it frizzy, "They took him!"

"" _Who took him_?!"" The two asked loudly, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"Team Rocket!" She shouted, as though it should have been obvious, "S-some guy from Pepper's team, he wouldn't talk… some albino guy… He flew away too fast for me to fight him off! He snuck up behind us and knocked O-Orval on the head… a-and. He just…! I couldn't do anything…!"

"Ghhh," Eclipse scowled, a sweat drop rolling down her face.

The effeminate man hollered from the other end of the field, "Hey, you call that a battle? We barely got started!"

"Shut your dick hole!" Eclipse shouted, not bothering to turn around to face him.

"We need to go after him… I'm! S-sooo sorry…" her voice cracked as her hands were suddenly all over the place, holding Eclipse, clutching herself, pulling her hair, biting her nails, fiddling anxiously with her pokémon necklace...

Sal could see she was trying her best not to cry…

"…" Eclipse and Sal both looked at each other, each looking at the other for some sort of answer.

"Don't' tell me you're seriously going to leave in the middle of a battle. We barely got started!" he asked incredulously.

Sal locked his eyes with Isaak, but ignored his remark, "We're leaving," Sal summoned his pokémon back, "Maybe next time."

"…" Isaak opened his mouth, fishing for words. "B-but…" he didn't expect to be so openly disregarded.

Sal and the girls were trekking off back into Celadon City, leaving Isaak and his pokémon behind. He held a hand out, a small incoherent string of words barely making it past his lips.

The hell just happened?

Eclipse finally turned back, cupping her hands to her mouth as she continued to walk backwards, "Well? Are you coming or what?"

Isaak caught up quickly.

 **End: Chapter 8**

* * *

 **Sneak Peek Chapter 9:**

"So, Pepper-oni."

Pepper ignored the man in favour of looking around her surroundings. She hadn't even made it passed Whirl Islands yet when she was ambushed, albeit a small one. One man, one she remembers hanging with her brother. A mentor, if she remembered correctly. Damn, either these stalkers were getting better or she was getting careless. Either way, she had to step up her sneak game.

"What's your decision?" he asked.

"Hush, I'm thinking," she held a hand up for him to silence himself. What was she thinking about again? Oh yeah. Here she was, alone with a stranger who offered her a deal they both knew she wasn't going to agree to. "Sigh," she verbally said the word, "What's a poor girl to do?" she held a hand up to her face and performed a mock sob.

He let out a soft laugh, "C'mon, it's easy. You'll get this," he held the orb up to catch the light of the sun, almost as if to show it off, "if you surrender. I'll take you down to the police station, and we all win."

"…" she gave the man an odd look, "Your name is… Ryan, right?"

He nodded, "And you're going to come in quietly, right?"

She rolled her shoulders, "Now what would give you an idea like that?" she chuckled, "I'm gonna take that item away from you, dead or alive. So the question should really be, are you going to hand it over quietly or do I have to pry it from your cold dead hands?"

Ryan giggled, adjusting his white jacket as he subtly pulled out a single pokéball from his breast pocket, "Let's found out," he challenged.

 **End: Sneak Peek**

* * *

 **A/n: I was working on both chapter 8 and 9 at the same time, but then Thursday came around before 8 was done, so I threw in a sneak peek for next chapter to make up for it. Next chapter will still be Sal and on Thursday**

 **(Orval Sycamore Ashemite (Val)-SevillaBoy)**

 **(Eclipse Bergmann-EclipseKuran)**

 **(Nadine Aliah Becker(Naddie)-RedHead Person)**

 **(Isaak Akabane-666funtimes)**


	9. Ch9 SC

**A/n: Remember that bags in the pokémon world have the mysterious power to hold thousands of items and never change size.**

* * *

 **Chp9 SC/AS**

Once they had all decided to take to the air, Nadine was able to quickly point out a smoke trail that the kidnapper's pokémon was using. Eclipse had a drifblim that was able to float along with both her and Nadine atop its head, leaving Isaak to share with Sal. His scizor, Akira, was flying horizontally to accommodate them both.

Sal didn't make a big deal out of it, but Isaak was shifting every once in a while. It seemed he wasn't used to having two people flying at once, even though Akira didn't mind the extra weight.

Nadine had calmed down once Eclipse had convinced her that they it wasn't her fault. She was pretty cheery now, even went as far to make conversation with the new guy, Isaak.

"So Isaak, how did you get all the Johto badges? That's pretty impressive."

"I stole them," he answered nonchalantly, keeping his eyes in front of him.

Nadine laughed and so did Sal. Eclipse didn't find it very funny.

"Are you selling them?" The redhead continued, "Eclipse wants to challenge Sal too." She giggled when Eclipse flicked her on the head playfully.

Isaak smirked, "How much are you offering?"

"You know," Sal intervened, "it'd be nice if you pretended that the champion, aka. The ruler of the region, wasn't in hearing range of you guys."

The rest of the flight was more light hearted, everyone' mind was briefly off the kidnapping and things seemed normal for a while.

"By the way, Isaak," Eclipse said after there had been a quiet pause, "you were pronouncing your pokemon's name wrong."

Isaak twirled his hair, "What do you mean?"

Eclipse adjusted the blue scarf over her face, "You were calling your quagsire 'Quagmire.' It's QUAG-SIRE." She pronounced.

"Welll…." he responded casually, "his name is Quagmire. Quagmire the Quagsire!" He declared playfully.

"But it's Quagsire."

"And I call mine Quagmire." The sharp featured man replied.

"You have no respect for that pokémon's true name," Eclipse continued.

"He doesn't seem to care what I call him."

"What if I started calling you…uh…Aak?"

"Than I'll call you Lips."

"We're done here," she made a stop signal with her hand.

"Aw, I was just getting started, Lips."

Sal brought his hands to has mouth and groaned. God dammit, this was Val and Nadine all over again.

* * *

They had been following the smoke trail for about an hour now, and Sal was beginning to wonder if this really was the right way. This smoke could just of easily be from the legendary Moltres, and even fi it was, Sal didn't want to follow it anymore. He was ready to voice his growing doubt when suddenly Nadine started hissing at everyone to listen and look.

"Look! There's the charizard!" she pointed with her green eyes filled with familiarity. "That's him!"

Isaak was scrutinizing the pokémon in the distance, "We should stay out of sight, strawberry." He replied.

"Straw… never mind, why not? We can grab Orval and run away before he can counter." Nadine tried to reason.

"Where is he going though?" Isaak countered logically. "What if he's kidnapped before? There might be more missing that we can help."

Sal wanted to take Nadine's side and say 'I don't care about the rest, I just was Val back!' but decided that he needed to save face, so he stayed silent.

In the end they decided to watch and wait from afar. And it wasn't long after that, that the charizard landed.

"Wait," Isaak peeked forward to see a small forestry of tree's, but something seemed off about it, "Is that a building?"

"WHAT?!" Sal jumped, rattling the scizor from its smooth gliding.

"OY! WATCH IT!" the dark haired man shouted, flailing at the turbulence.

Sal did physically, but he was still watching with a close eye where the man on the charizard was landing.

"Why is there a building in the middle of nowhere? It's really well hidden too…" Nadine inquired.

Sal didn't need to look any closer to know who that building belonged to.

Pepper's Headquarters.

* * *

They had landed a little way off to collect themselves and figure out what to do next. Sal wanted to barge in there and find Val and demand to know why they would take him, but even he knew that was rash and impractical. Wait, wasn't he supposed to make a plan with Ryan on what to do here? No… Val couldn't wait, he needed to save Val within the hour.

"This is actually perfect," Nadine piped up, "Val was telling me about the plan to infiltrate, so we got outfits for the occasion." She pulled a bag of clothes from her fanny pack started pullig something out.

Four white lab coats and black thick framed glasses.

Sal felt himself tear up just a little from the memory of Val eagerly telling him about this stupid plan.

Wait.

…Were they seriously going to dress in lab coats to try and sneak in?

-One dressing montage later-

Apparently they were. Sal fidgeted with his coat, the arms were too small for his arms and the waist was too small, making him feel like he was fat. Gd damn, Orval knows his size! He did this on purpose.

"Er, I think mine is too big…" Eclipse tried again to roll the sleeves up to reach her wrist.

"That's mine." Sal immediately yanked the lab coat he was wearing off.

"Ah, much better." She snuggled into her form fitting coat.

"Everyone suited up?" they all nodded.

Sal was reluctant to take the leadership role. It wasn't a position he was comfortable with, but he did like the automatic more or less respect it got him. He adjusted the glasses, and looked around them once again. "Alright then. Who has…uh…scientist-like pokémon?"

"…"

"Scientist-like?"

"Yeah, well, I guess something like a psychic or rare type of pokémon? Something professional…scientific…"

Nadine looked to Eclipse with a witty smile and mumbled something to her. Eclipse then smiled too even though she still had her scarf around her face. They summoned out a pokémon each in practised unity. Nadine sent out an espeon while Eclipse sent out its counterpart umbreon, except this one had blue rings instead of yellow.

"There!" Nadine said proudly, "Now even if we get suspicious, we have two pokémon on the scene."

Isaak looked at them, then the pokémon, then back up to them, "That's how you two became friends, isn't it?" he could picture it now, two eeveelutions bringing together two girls at a pokémon centre.

Nadine smiled, Eclipse shrugged.

"Alright, so this is how it's going to play out," Sal took the lead again, doing his best to come up with a plan on the spot, "Let's say we're interns for some professor or another, and we were told to meet them at the front door." Everyone nodded, "then once we're inside we snoop around. If we get caught, then we say we're looking for the bathroom. When one of us find Orval, we all leave."

Nadine scratched her cheek, "How do we let the others know we found Orval?"

"How do I know what this 'Orval' looks like?" Isaak piped in.

Ah…that's right, Isaak was completely new here. He had no idea who Orval was…

"Er…" should Sal describe him? He knew that once he started he wouldn't stop. He'd probably even start listing off Val's traits, then he'd feel embarrassed later… "You can pair up with one of us then."

"Our eeveelution thing is already a package deal," Nadine explained, hooking an arm with Eclipse.

"So I guess I'm with you, champ!" Isaak laughed.

Sal pursed his lips, "Guess so."

They discussed the little details the best they could. Prof. Smadup invited them over, they get lost and looking for the restroom, find Orval, then leave. If no one has heard from the other's in a long time, assume that they've already left the building.

"Ready?!" Sal asked in the best 'football coach' voice he had.

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"I guess."

Well that was one way to deflate his balloon. "Alright," he said with a dampen mood, "Let's go…"

They all adjusted their suits once more, each nodding to each other as they readied for the rescue mission. Once they were as ready as they'll ever be, they walked toward the hidden door.

It was hard to find, the building really did blend into the forestry really well, but Sal was able to track the foot prints of people walking towards the entrance. Then once he saw a guard standing post up ahead, he knew he found it.

The guard finally took notice of them when Isaak coughed.

"Oy! What are you kids doing here?"

' _Kids_?!' they all internally cringed.

Noone answered, and Sal was reluctant to continue with the lead. He stayed silent because he knew that he would be stuttering if he opened his mouth.

Good thing Isaak took the lead, "We're here as an internship for Professor Made Up," Eclipse elbowed him in the side, "I mean, Prof. Smadup"

The guard looked at them skeptically, "…that person doesn't work here."

"See, this is what Prof. Smadup was talking about!" Sal finally snapped to Isaak, causing the poor man to wince in shock, "She works so damn hard, and yet not even the local guard knows who she is! Just because she's a woman! Sexist! All of them!" Sal waved his arms with dramatic flair.

The guard sweat dropped, "Hey, I'm not sexist. I simply never heard the name before, just hold on while I call…her, or someone at the labs to make sure your story adds up,"

Someone made a whiplash noise.

"Seriously?!" the guard exclaimed to the group, trying to figure out who did it. First he's sexist, now he's whipped?!

"If the shoe fits." Someone muttered lowly. Sal heard it coming from Eclipse's direction, though it could also be Nadine.

"That's it, I'm calling the boss," the guard began dialing.

Sal reached into his pocket to grab Luxray, "God damm-"

"STOP!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing in favor of the new voice.

In came a man, shoulder length faded red hair and dark eyes, dressed with a simple black overcoat.

"C-commander Niel. I-I was just about to call-"

"Ah! The newcomers, am I right? Come with me, we've been expecting you." He ignored the guard and welcomed to group happily.

This was the moment everyone realized that this may have been a trap to lure them here.

"Come in, I'd like to talk to you all before you…" he looked at their lab coats, "Go to the labs..." He held the door open for them, inviting them inside.

They all stayed still.

"Come on, Mr. Orval is waiting for you inside, along with someone else." Niel deepened his voice with a silent threat, making them all feel inclined to go inside. They were still hesitant to move, until Sal took the first step forward.

"Show me where he is." He walked up to Niel, towering above him by half a foot. One of the good things about being tall is the held with intimidation tactics.

Niel didn't faze, "I will once all your friends are inside."

Sal looked back, feeling tension rise as they looked at him like he was crazy for walking into the pyroar's den. Isaak was right behind Sal, almost eager to go inside. Neither of the girls wanted to go in, their respective pokémon looking jst as unsure as them. He looked at them pleadingly to follow along, and Nadine was the next one to crack. Once she was set to go inside, Eclipse followed her without hesitation.

"Great!" Niel said promisingly, shutting the door behind them, then rushing forward to take the lead, "This way."

This was odd, to say the least. Niel was still acting like they were new interns with the way he was leading them down the halls and gesturing to each door and where it leads to, treating this like a tour. The dim halls reminded him of the hallways of a school, only without the lockers, windows, and pictures of the students along the walls. There were many doors though, all of them unnamed, which inclined Sal to listen in closely to the 'tour' Niel was giving them.

The small group stayed silent the whole time, and Sal knew he at least felt unnerved by this whole thing. When they finally reached a door at the end of the hall that required a card key, he opened the door again in a gentleman like fashion, waiting for them to walk in.

Sal could feel the heavy sense of foreboding radiating off the room, and it was a place he wanted to stay far away from.

Isaak, on the otherhand, didn't seem very bothered by this and waltzed right in, even thanking Niel for holding the door open. Why did he seem so excited for this whole thing? He still didn't know him well enough to say for sure, but Sal made a note to keep an eye on him.

Actually, Nadine was there when Val got kidnapped, he should be keeping an eye on her too. And Eclipse was her friend…

Shit, what if this whole thing was orchestrated by all of them to trap him here?!

Now he really didn't want to go in that room.

"Come on in. I promise you'll see your friend right after this," Niel said with a nervous smile. Oh shit, why was he nervous?! Was he bad at luring people into traps?! Admittedly, this was the first time he's ever been with Niel face to face, so it was possible trait for him.

"First tell me what you want me in there for." He growled, stalking away from everyone. He looked like he was ready to dash if the wrong thing was said.

Niel felt a bead of sweat form on his brow, " _Salt_ , please, I can explain everything in there."

' _So he did know it was me!_ ' Sal thought angrily. "Tell me why, or I'm out of here," He threatened.

"That's really not a good idea," Niel urged, "All I have to do is press a button and I have two dozen people by my side in five seconds. Just come in this room please and let me explain myself." Niel continued, looking almost hurt. Hah, almost like they were friends and Sal was hurting his feelings.

Sal looked to the others, trying to figure out what they were thinking. Isaak was lounging happily in the room on a couch while fiddling with his bangs. Eclipse was staying close to Nadine, protectively looming over her. Nadine was starting to tear up at the eyes, like she was scared.

"…"

Dammit, she was scared.

"Alright," Sal conceded. He slowly stepped into the room, waiting on the other side for Nadine and Eclipse to walk in. After some hesitation, they walked in and stayed standing at the edge of the couch Isaak was relaxing on.

Niel gently closed the door behind them, then finally took a deep breath of air, like he was holding it the whole time they were talking.

He kept his hold on the door knob, just staying silent. Sal was right next to him, ready to fight him off if need be. He wanted to tell the man to hurry the hell up and tell them what he wanted to say, which was probably a threat. Orval's life for some sort of public humiliation, or something like that.

Soon, Niel's shoulder began to shake. Was he laughing?! Sal braced himself, ready for the man to suddenly laugh out loud about how they walked right into a pitfall trap.

But no, he just kept shaking.

Then he sobbed. And Sal could finally see tears running down his face.

"I-I'm sorry…." Niel took a shuddering breath, "You have to help me." He wiped his eyes with his sleeves, "I can't s-stand it here anymore…"

* * *

Albus was given swift instructions from Niel to go scout Celadon, Cerulean, and the Saffron area to find and kidnap Sal's best friend. Why? Apparently it was direct orders from Pep, something about needing a hostage for some plan or another. Niel offered his charizard as a flight pokémon for a quick trip.

So Albus, not seeing much reason to doubt Niel's words, decided to go and kidnap Sal's friend. He forgot the name, but Niel gave him a description. Sandy blonde hair with a wavy front, and tall.

Not much of a description to go on.

Fortune was apparently on his side, since he found Orval Sycamore hanging bluntly on the streets of Celadon. The second he saw him, he jumped off the charizard about a story in the air and knocked Orval out in one swift blow. The girl he was with screamed and immediately went to reach for, what he presumed, to be a pokéball from her fanny pack. Albus wasted no time collecting the unconscious man in his arms, and running onto the back of a waiting charizard right around the corner before she had the chance to let out her pokémon.

Which now left him in the air, pondering the plot behind these orders. If Pep really needed him to get a hostage, why didn't she tell him when she called him? All that call had consisted of was a quick discussion of Zoroark and if he knew any way of capturing him, or better yet, finding a way to communicate with the pokémon.

And the orders coming from Niel's mouth was more or less trustworthy. He was aware of the strained relationship he and Pep, and he wouldn't put it past Niel to initiate orders behind her back. Not that she wasn't above kidnapping, far from it, but her mind was obviously a thousand miles from Salt.

He closed his eyes, feeling his platinum hair being blown back by the wind despite his bandana protecting his top part of his head. It was a good thing he was wearing his white leather jacket, keeping his body warmth in. The tan fur collar helped keep his neck warm, but the wind still crashed against his face. His white pants and boots were kept pristine and clean, but they were collecting dirt whenever he was on the ground.

He tightened his grip on the unconscious man and began to prepare a backup plan in case this was a scam on Niel's part. Or better yet, he should stake out until he was certain Pep was back at HQ, and make sure the orders really were straight from the horse's mouth.

He flinched when Charizard hit a bump in the air, nearly losing his balance off the orange dragon. He panicked for a brief moment when he had nothing to grab onto, and he was sure he would shout a girly shriek if he had the voice to do so. Luckily Charizard swerved to help stabilize the albino, and he gratefully gave the pokémon a pat of appreciation.

That seemed to help him decide his course of action. He would buy a blanket for the kidnapped guy, whatever his name was, get a meal, cruise in the air for a few hours…

The charizard had apparently read his thoughts and he began speeding up towards HQ. Al tried to tell him to slow down, but the charizard was intent on reuniting with his original trainer, Niel.

They were within range of the HQ, and only now did Albus suspect he was followed. He didn't look back to confirm it; he knew that Charizard had sensed them too. He decided to let it be, this is what the hostage situation was for anyways, right? And besides, he knew that Niel would send up reinforcements if Al got into too much trouble.

* * *

The moment Albus landed, Niel was there and returned the large dragon-like pokémon into its pokéball. Al was carrying Orval fireman style, and gestured to the unconscious body silently asking what to do with it.

"Put him in the pharmacy by the lab, the scientist there can keep an eye on him."

Albus nodded, walking through the door of the disguised building. The building was genius in a sense. It was designed to look like a forest from almost every angle, but if you were to touch it, it would be solid. Knock on it and it would be hollowed out. He used to live here and he still had trouble finding it. The only real indication of the entrance was the post guard they would assign out front.

Once inside, Albus adjusted to knocked out man in his grip. Man, he was not used to lugging people around. He followed the signs that were littered about the walls, and eventually he successfully navigated his way to the medical wing. He placed the kid on one of the free bed, then was ready to leave until he saw that there was a girl in one of the beds.

She had dark skin and he wavy hair was still done up in a ponytail, which had to be uncomfortable. She was a petite thing, and he had to wonder what they needed her here for.

He took out his notepad and pen to jot down the question, 'Who is that girl?', then walked to the closest doctor and pointed to the wad of paper.

The man shrugged, "Niel brought that one in earlier today when he first got here. Just told us to take care of her and make sure she doesn't escape."

Al nodded, and went back out to roam the hallways. There was a grunt or commander here and there but he had discovered many years ago that these people preferred to stay in those rooms with whatever they contained in there, be it beds or experiments.

He opted to go outside for a while. He searched for some indication on where the outside was, following the rare sign that pointed in the right direction. He didn't feel like taking the warp panels, feeling that those tend to only make him more lost.

After a set amount of time has past, he finally finds Niel. A very…frantic Niel. He's pacing in the spot, his heeled boots clinking insistently. Albus jogged ahead to see if he could help the man at all. The closer he got the more he saw how pale the man was, sweating like a tepig, and a very clear fear in his eyes.

Al lip synced the words, hoping he would see 'Are you okay?'

Niel wasn't looking, his eyes all over the place. Al patted him on the shoulder several times, trying to get his attention.

"I-I'm done… Sh-she's g-g-gonna…!" he mumbled the words at seemingly no one. All at once he seemed to finally notice Albus' presence and flinched. He held onto Albus' white sleeve in a vice grip, never making eye contact. He seemed to isolate Albus while at the same time seek some sort of comfort from him.

Albus patted his arm soothingly, urging him to continue.

Niel's eyes widened as though he had an epiphany, "Albus…Don't tell Pepper," then he lightly pushed him away before sulking off somewhere.

The albino looked upon the man with worry. What was going on? Is this really what Pepper order Niel to do? He was getting more and more suspicious as the hours went on.

What was he not supposed to tell Pep?

"…"

That's it. He had to affirm this with Pep and see what she was doing.

There wasn't any way to send written messages yet on a pokégear, or any type of electronic that wasn't a computer, so he'll have to do his best with basic clicking of the tongue.

He dialed the number quickly, and luck must've been on his side since she picked up on the first ring.

"Yo," she answered.

" _click,_ " he clicked his tongue once, meaning positive/yes/affirmative.

"What's the word, Al?" she greeted.

" _click click_ " two clicks for negative/no/bad.

"Ugh, sorry but I can't get to HQ just yet, I'm going to be a bit longer than I thought. I should be there by the end of the day though. Can it wait 'til then?"

"…" could it? He could take matters into his own hands for the time being. Find out what Niel is doing, maybe solve it before Pep get's back. He thought about it a little more, until he finally answered, "click."

A dial tone was his response.

* * *

Pepper stuffed the phone in her pocket and sighed. Albus rarely called her, so things at HQ must not be going very well. Maybe she should beat this guy up personally and be done with it. Ugh… why couldn't Niel just keep the fort down like he was supposed to? Little brat…

"So, Pepper-oni."

Pepper ignored the man in favour of looking around her surroundings. She hadn't even made it passed Whirl Islands yet when she was ambushed, albeit a small ambush. One man. One she remembers hanging with her brother, a mentor, if she remembered correctly. Damn, either these stalkers were getting better or she was getting careless. Either way, she had to step up her stealth game.

"What's your decision?" he asked.

"Hush, I'm thinking," she held a hand up for him to silence himself. What was she thinking about again? Oh yeah. Here she was, alone with a stranger who offered her a deal they both knew she wasn't going to agree to. "Sigh," she verbally said the word, "What's a poor girl to do?" she raised her hand up to her face and performed a mock sob.

He let out a soft laugh, "C'mon, it's easy. You'll get this if you surrender," he held up a small blue orb with a metal ring around it, almost as if to show it off, "and I'll take you down to the police station, and we all win."

"…" she gave the man an odd look, "Your name is… Ryan, right?"

He nodded, "And you're going to come in quietly, right?"

She rolled her shoulders and began doing minor stretches, "Now what would give you an idea like that?" she chuckled, "I'm gonna take that orb away from you, dead or alive. So the question should really be, are you going to hand it over quietly or do I have to pry it from your cold dead hands?"

Ryan giggled, adjusting his white jacket as he subtly pulled out a single pokéball from his breast pocket, "Let's found out," he challenged.

* * *

 **A/n: Not 100% sure about that morse/code thing, I haven't done enough research about it to be certain. My only source of reference for that is Futurama ._.'**

 **Next chapter is Pepper!**

 **(Annette Davidson (Annie)-Arcana of the North)**

 **(Orval Sycamore Ashemite (Val)-SevillaBoy)**

 **(Eclipse Bergmann-EclipseKuran)**

 **(Nadine Aliah Becker(Naddie)-RedHead Person)**

 **(Isaak Akabane-666funtimes(his own intro idea))**

 **(Albus Evans-W.R Winters)**


	10. Ch10 PC

**A/n: Bleh, I'm tired of wacking out a new excuse for why there's a late chapter. Just expect updates to be on Thursday, and if I miss it, look forward to it within 7 days (unless stated otherwise).**

 **No new oc's this chapter. If I haven't introduced yours yet, be patient. I just need a break from introducing characters for one chapter XD (There's only a handful left anyways)**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 PC**

Arlin was following Yuki out of the cave, and had reluctantly ended up walking next to him. Yuki wasn't talking much, which made him feel a little awkward. He was no good at starting conversations… he knew if Yuki just said something to get the ball rolling he would be fine to continue it.

Well, he could try starting.

"So…" he looked to Yuki, trying to make eye contact. Damn, Yuki wasn't playing along, he was still looking forward, "What's it like to pirating?"

Yuki blinked as though a small gust of wind was blown in his face, then looked at Arlin. "What's it like to _pirating_?" he gave him a scrutinizing look. Did he mean 'to pirate' or 'go pirating'?

"Uh," crap. He messed up. This is why he can't start conversations! He get's tongue tied! Continueing a conversation he could do, but starting one?! "Never mind…" he looked away and hoped to see the light at the end of the tunnel on both accounts. He wanted to get out of this cave physically, and he wanted a proper conversation with Yuki. He just had to keep his chin up.

Yuki dug something out of his pockets of his black cargo's, and then held out a slip of paper. There must be something official on it since it was laminated.

"For new recruits…" he explained, holding it to Arlin for him to take.

"Oh, cool," he plucked it from his hand and looked at it.

Wait.

This was…

…No…

 _NO!_

There were _words_ on this paper!

"I'm not a big reader," Arlin chuckled nervously. It was only a few lines though…he could try to tough it out. "da da da… no gambling or battling… share everything stolen, no running away while in the middle of any battle…" he squinted at the next word. "Punsh…punch…able…" he pointed to the word and looked at Yuki for help, "What's this say?"

Yuki didn't have to look since he heard Arlin attempts on the word, "Punishable."

"Ah. 'Breaking any of these rules are punishable…BY DEATH?!" he looked back and forth to the paper and Yuki, "Is this serious?!"

He nodded.

"That's… Not right!"

Yuki shrugged.

"How do I get out? Can I run away now? Should I do it while your distracted?" Arlin began internally freaking out, only physically showing it by pulling at his brown hair. "I should go now, _right_?"

Yuki looked a little worried for him, but shrugged, "Talk to Pepper about it." He doubted Pepper would let Arlin off the hook so freely, but who knows?

Maybe if Yuki had properly refused her offer way back when, then maybe he wouldn't be here now. He could be off in culinary schooling, or working in a far off village with lots of room to run around in… Well, he could still achieve that if he told Pepper he was quitting.

Yeah! Next time he see's her, he'll quit! He'll stand up for himself and tell her that he's going to start his culinary career!

Or after they finish up in HQ.

Yeah, he'll tell her then.

Or when they get back to the ship.

Maybe.

Probably the next time the crew went to his home region, Hoenn.

 _Then_ it will be the time he finally quits.

Maybe.

LINEBREAK-0

They finally got outside to the city. The light was a warm welcome from the damp cave, though Yuki didn't mind the cold, or water for that fact. It was just a little too dark for his liking.

Arlin stayed by his side like glue, which was odd since the fearful man was complaining when Pepper got into his personal space. The younger of the two, Yuki, did his best to subtly put space between them, but Arlin was insistent on staying with Yuki.

The medicine shack was their first and only pit stop. Pepper had ordered a special herbal mix for pickup, and Yuki had to double check if she picked it up or not.

Once they had picked it up and left the building, Arlin tried starting a conversation again. "What's with the bottle?"

"Medicine." Yuki replied simply, carefully placing the two-inch bottle inside his pants pocket. He really wished Arlin would stop trying to start a conversation…

"What's the medicine do?"

Yuki shrugged.

More silence.

They walked up to the beach, and Yuki had forgot to find out what Arlin's pokémon were like. "Do you have anything to help you across the ocean?" he asked. "Flying or water type?"

He shook his head, "Not really. The only thing I really have is a pair of swimming shorts." He crossed his arms and began thinking deeper, "I have a pokémon that can levitate a little bit at a time."

Yuki looked out to the ocean and saw islands not too far apart from each other. "Could your pokémon levitate from island to island?" he asked.

Arlin sighed heavily. Honestly, he might be able to, but he would prefer to not take that risk. "I don't know if want to …" he replied regretfully. He feels bad about even mentioning the levitating thing. His onix would get ko'd pretty quick if he dropped into the ocean.

"…" Yuki got back to the drawing board. They could fish for a short while to catch something for him, but honestly it would take too long to go through the hassle of capturing it, teaching it an HM, then sending one of their own party pokémon back to the pc box.

What else…

* * *

And this is how Yuki found himself piggybacking on Arlin as he held onto Starmie while it carried them through the waters.

"This is really weird." Arlin found himself muttering as he fastened himself to the star shaped pokémon.

' _You're telling me_ ,' Yuki thought with disdain as he held on for dear life to Arlin with his arms and legs.

Starmie showed no sign of being tired out by carrying two men, but Yuki still insisted on stopping island-to-island. It gave him a break from the uncomfortably close man-on-man contact, and it gave Arlin a break from being inelegantly strangled.

When they were at their second stop, aka the second island, they began hearing shouting in the near distance. Yuki locked onto the noise and recognized Peppers voice in the midst of sound.

"C'mon," he said to Starmie as he began running towards the noise. The pokémon dutifully followed behind and made sure it jumped in the water before its trainer. Yuki hopped on, but he was fretfully taken by surprised when Arlin jumped on top of him, reversing their previous position.

"Oof!" Yuki felt the wind get knocked out of him when Arlin clutched Starmie from behind.

"The noise isn't too far away," Arlin told him, and did his best to keep the weight off him.

"Y-yeah," Yuki said to help reassure himself. Ugh, the joys of being short…

When they got to the island, Yuki was quick to push the slightly older teen off of him in favour of rushing forward. There was a large hill in the middle of the island and boulders blocking off his path everywhere. He was able to bend and twist his way through, not very worried about how Arlin was handling things.

"Pepper!" he shouted when she finally came into his vision.

He quickly assessed the situation she was in. She was battling with Politoed against a sylveon, the two chasing and evading each other blow after blow. The other trainer was almost on the other side of the island, commanding his fairy pokémon with hushed and calm commands.

He'd recognized that poofy bowl cut anywhere.

Ryan.

Pepper aggressively shouted to her pokémon, "Politoed, evade for as long as possible then use Hyper Voice!" After watching to make sure that the green toad was alright by itself, Pepper turned to the newcomers. "Hey, guys. What took you so long?" she asked.

Yuki had walked up to Pepper's side and pulled out the tiny bottle and showed it to her, "I picked this up."

"Ah, so that's what I forgot. That's been bugging me for a little while now," she chuckled as she swiped it off his palm and pocketed it. She looked behind him and continued her smile, "How about you, Stone?"

Arlin looked around then pointed to himself questioningly, "Uh, you mean me?" No one ever called him by his last name before, it threw him off.

"Yes, you!" she sighed impatiently. She peeked back onto the battlefield before looking back, "What have you done since I last saw you?"

"Er…I…" he looked towards Yuki for help, but he only shrugged with an apologetic smile. "I…read the rules… The laminated ones?" he said hesitantly.

"Great!" she clapped once, "Have them memorized by tomorrow." She turned back to look at Politoed. "By the by, what class are you?"

Arlin laughed bashfully, "I turned Class 5 this year, but only one-"

Pepper ignored him in favour of cupping her hands to her hands and shouting to her opponent, "TAP OUT!" then she made a show of tapping Arlin on the shoulder repeatedly so Ryan could see from where he was standing.

Both Politoed and Sylveon paused on the field, then looked back to their respective trainer for further instruction. The opposing trainer cupped his owns and shouted back to Pepper, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" he whined, stomping his foot on the ground as though he were about to throw a fit.

"WATCH ME, _RYAN_!" she mocked his name. She returned Politoed to its capsule and placed it in her satchel, and then forcefully pushed Arlin forward, "Your turn, kiddo."

"Wait, uh… I actually wanted to talk to you about something…" he turned around, facing away from his opponent to face the pirate.

"It can wait," she casually turned him back around to face forward. "Just battle him while my pokémon get back on their feet, I'll have them ready soon," she patted him on the back, then went back to stand by Yuki.

"I…umm….uh… GAH okay!" he finally gave into the pressure and flicked his wrist. He kept his pokémon in his sleeve, so it was easy access. He knew without a doubt which pokémon to use, and as long as the opponent didn't switch out, he can win this in a few moves. "Go, ONIX!"

Out came a ginormous rock pokémon, shadowing well above any other average onix. Arlin prided himself in the powerful rock type, and hoped this would show that he wasn't the huge scaredy skitty he made himself out to be in the cave.

Onix instantly zeroed in on its opponent, then roared at the smaller pokémon.

The sylveon looked up with some apprehension.

'Ryan' (as he heard Pepper call him) stroke his chin and pursed his lips to the side. "A serpent, huh?" he closed his eyes and tilted his head, giving the impression that he was in deep thought. "Nah, too easy." He then put his head back into the battle, "Moon Blast."

"Onix, Gryo Ball!" Arlin shouted.

Sylveon ran back to put distance between them, since if Onix were to simply lay down she would be squashed. When Sylveon was a decent distance away, she began storing energy in her jaw, and she was that the onix was prepared to blast her. Sylveon wanted this finished quickly, so she shot out her borrowed energy from the moon before Onix.

Onix saw the blast quickly coming towards him, and shot out his own blast of energy before the little Moon Blast could hit, and he overpowered the blast with type advantage. Gyro Ball swallowed up the opposing move as it headed towards the fairy type pokémon.

Sylveon was hit, but wasn't down. The impact blew her a few feet away from her previous standing, but she could still move.

"Awesome!" Arlin shouted to himself and Onix. Arlin couldn't use as many moves as he'd like to, using Sandstorm could use up all the sand on the island and sink them, and a badly placed Dig could have Onix at the bottom of the ocean. "Iron Tail!"

Sylveon had barely gotten back on her feet when Onix had lifted his tail and readied himself to slam it. Sylveon looked from side to side from a place to run to. Either way would work, but she had to wait for her trainer's command to make sure.

"Sylveon, Protect!" Ryan called with hesitation. What was he unsure of?

She used Protect, and barely in time. The force of the Iron Tail had pushed her into the ground a little, but she got away without a scratch. "Wish, then use Trump Card." Her trainer called.

As Onix was recoiling from the move, Sylveon began to use Wish. The move was tricky, she had to meditate for a minute for it to work properly.

Arlin called out again, "Onix, Iron Tail! Once more time should do it!"

Onix charged itself as Sylveon used Wish. He agreed with his trainer, once more hit and the battle should be over.

Arlin was ecstatic. This might be the battle where Onix finally evolves! He had to hope, right? The thought of him evolving one day soon always got him pumped up.

Onix charged it's tail to slam on Sylveon. Its eyes were closed like it was meditating, so he was able to get the element of surprise. Once the bottom half of his body was shining, he whipped it to hit Sylveon head on.

Sylveon was thrown across the island, skidding across the land while she barely held onto the last of her HP. She struggled to get up properly this time, limping on one leg as she did. She just had to hold out for a little longer until Wish became effective, then she'll be ready to defeat Onix.

Alone on the sidelines of the battle, Pepper was watching with a keen eye. She was glad Ryan didn't bring out his other piss pretty pokémon, otherwise Arlin would be at a very unfair disadvantage. The boy was doing alright considering that she assumed he was a wuss when she first saw him.

She was curious about the onix though. If this onix was past level 50 then why didn't he evolve it? She looked what moves it learns while leveling up in dexter, and the only thing she could figure is that Arlin wanted it to learn Stone Edge, but…

"Onix, use Stone Edge!"

It looks like he already learned it through a TM. Maybe Onix didn't _want_ to evolve?

Huh.

Oh well, it wasn't any skin off her nose. She'll have plenty of time to figure it out later.

Onix's Stone Edge had missed, and Sylveon had been healed through Wish. The smaller of the two was preparing Trump Card.

Pepper yawned as she shifted her stance. One eye had to be kept on Yuki at all times, and the other on the battle. If Ryan happened to realize she was looking at somewhere that wasn't the battle, he would get paranoid.

Well, more paranoid than he was now. The man was hiding it well, but she could see past it. To the regular eye he was just looking over his shoulder to watch a wingull fly by, or he was just shifting his stance, but Pepper saw right through it. If she didn't know any better she would think that he knew Yuki was coming for him, but he was like this before the two boys arrived on the scene.

She couldn't say why, but at least her cabin boy is still out of sight.

The battle continued, and Onix was beginning to see the downsides of being so large. He couldn't keep an eye on Sylveon at all times, sometimes the small thing would be climbing right up his back and use Fairy Wind for a critical hit. The moves weren't very effective, and Sylveon kept healing herself against the effective steel type moves.

It looked like a stalemate to Pepper. It was only a matter of time until Sylveon ran out of PP or Oni was finally worn down enough, despite the help of potions.

The pirate captain looked towards Ryan again, not caring if he got suspicious in that moment.

He was very antsy. He has been since she first ran into him an hour or so ago. She didn't have the slightest idea why, but he wouldn't stop looking over his shoulder, sticking his hands in and out of his pockets, and his eyes were all over the field.

Yuki was lurking near by his person, but every time he tried to go in for the swoop, Ryan would whip his head back around to see nothing.

She needed him to stay still for one god damn minute.

Onix had landed a Gyro Ball, but Sylveon had used Protect in time. Ryan giggled again and cupped his hands to shout, "You're doing great, but I'm still winning!"

Arlin exhaled a breath and readied himself to reply until Pepper stepped in with her hands beside each side of her head, palms directed forward, "WE SURRENDER!" she shouted extra loudly to make sure he heard.

"Sylveon, use-wait, what?" he looked flabbergasted, "You _surrender_?" Ryan asked skeptically.

Pepper shrugged with nonchalance, "You really do have us cornered. I know when to give up. You win."

To say Ryan was suspicious would be an understatement. He was shocked into silence. What? He looked around for Pepper's pokémon, but didn't sense them anywhere in sight. What the heck? If it was this easy to bring Pepper to her knees, then Sal would've had her defeated on their first battle.

Something was off.

His eyes trailed to the boy in the red jacket, the one he was battling just now. He looked just as confused as he did.

Wait, didn't Pepper had another crony with her?!

Ryan then hectically searched the immediate area. Masayuki, if he recalled correctly. The boy with the long braid…

Oh snap.

Ryan turned around and saw what could only be Masayuki running away from him and towards the waters where a starmie was waiting for him.

Ryan only spent two seconds patting himself down before realizing the orb was gone. He was pickpocketed.

He ran towards the small teen, not caring for the other two anymore. He can't believe he was so careless. He stops fidgeting for ten seconds and he's pickpocketed. Humans can't be trusted.

Getting the orb back was the only thing on his mind now.

The water wasn't very close, so he was lucky that he had some time to catch up. Yes, the boy was fast, but Ryan was no slugma either.

When Yuki was within grabbing distance, he was tackled to the ground from behind. Ugh, no way that was Pepper on top of him, too much damn weight. His arms were pinned to his back, his face in the sand. Hmm, he wondered if there was an item buried under here. Not that he would go looking for it now, it was just an interesting thought.

"Good job, Arlin." Pepper had congratulated someone, probably the person sitting on his back.

Ryan turned his head in time to watch Pepper grab a pokéball from his belt and summoned Sylveon back.

"Ghh…Let me go you bullies!" Ryan struggled underneath Arlin's heavily muscled form. "I have to take soup to my sick grandma! She's going to die if I don't get there soon! I'm blaming you if my grandmother dies!" he whined accusingly. He looked to see where the theif of his orb was, and he saw him standing idly by the waters, as though he didn't trust Ryan within 50 metres of himself.

"Just shut up." Pepper seethed as she stood back up and went to stand next to his head.

"I love my grandma very much, so you better let me go," He said flatly.

She sighed angrily as she dug his head into the ground with her boot. "You're really making me hate you."

"What are you going to do with him?" Arlin asked.

"Bring him back to HQ, that's for sure," Pepper rubbed her eyes and wiped away some tired tears. The day was barely over and she was exhausted. "Why, you got a better plan, Stone?"

"N-no! You do what you will! I don't usually do this kind of thing, but I wont judge you for it. I don't know what he did, so I can't really say…"

Pepper kneeled down on the sand to relax herself a bit, she thinks she deserves it, "You know those bullies you'll see that will take a kid's treasure and dangle it just above their reach?" she explained.

"I guess so."

"That's what he did to me." She sighed mournfully with a fake, dry sob, "He took what was mine and teased me with it."

" _I_ found it!" Ryan complained from his place on the ground.

"Still," her dominate façade came back in an instant, "I called dibs and _you_ took it and dangled it in front of me. What did you expect?" she sighed as though she were getting tired of this conversation.

Arlin kept a tight hold on Ryan, but was careful not to hold on too tightly in case Ryan really was in the right here. "To respect my property and be thankful I let you look at it."

"Yeah, you're a funny guy." She scoffed a short laugh. "Whatever, it's already been decided what's going to happen to you, _Ryan_."

"But…aw…you got me…" he went lax and wasn't squirming around anymore.

As soon as he did, Pepper saw Arlin's grip on him loosen ever-so-slightly.

Ryan snatched the opportunity and flipped his body, knocking Arlin into the sand and elbowing him in the temple as he did. When he got to his feet, Ryan roundhoused a kicked to Pepper in the face to make sure she stayed down. When Pepper shouted in pain and clutched her nose instead of jumping back up, Ryan began booking it in the opposite direction of Yuki.

The stealthy and fit boy dashed towards him the moment he flipped Arlin onto his back, but it seems Ryan had the advantage of distance. Yuki didn't spare a glance to either of his knocked down comrades in favour of keeping Ryan in his sights.

"Pidgeot!" the man called out, and the large bird pokémon came out right away. Ryan fluidly jumped onto the bird and flew off. Yuki grabbed the closest rock on the ground and chucked it towards the bird, but to no avail...

"…" Yuki could only gape as Ryan flew further and further away.

* * *

Yuki had returned to see that both of them were alive and well in the same spot Ryan had knocked them to.

"Fucking SMARTS!" Pepper groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand and cradled it with the other.

Arlin had taken off his red sweater to press against the side of his head, grunting painfully, "You're telling me."

The braided boy felt a little bad about being the only uninjured one, but also relieved at the same time. The perks of being fit.

He went over to Pepper to see if she was alright. He remembered hearing a sickening crack when Ryan kicked her, and considering the way she was holding her nose, he made an educated guess that it broke.

" _Was_ broken," she reaffirmed when he asked. She inhaled a large breath of air before tilting her head back to try and stop the bleeding. The blood was probably choking her, which would explain the inhale. Yuki waited patiently for her to tilt her head back down to see if there was some way he could help when she hacked a bloody loogy onto the ground.

"Uh, I'll go check on…wait, are you cry-"

" _I'm just tired_ ," she hissed before he could finish, and went back to tilting her head back.

"Ah, right…" and off he went to check on Arlin.

Arlin's wound was bad, but it wasn't lethal, it wouldn't even need stitches. It was a shame none of them had any type of medical supplies with them, but Pepper assured him that they'll be fine without. Once Pepper's nose had stopped bleeding and the blood was washed out of Arlin's hair, they prepared themselves to continue forward.

"And off we go to the next city…" Pepper said more or less enthusiastically. "But before I forget, give me the orb." She held her palm out to Yuki.

Yuki dug into his pockets and plunked the thing onto her hand.

"Is that the Blue Orb used to summon Kyrogre?" Arlin asked with extreme interest. He's heard about such things back home in Dewford from the neighbours, but he had no idea what it looked like, only what its purpose was.

"Close, but no. it sure does look like it, doesn't it?" she held it up to inspect it closer. "From far away I couldn't be so sure, but now…" she tossed it in the air and swiped it back as it came back down, "..now I'm positive. This is the one and only Connection Orb."

* * *

 **A/n: The rules in the beginning that Yuki gives to Arlin are based off of Assassins Creed IV (Aside from the pokémon twist). They seemed like pretty stand-up rules and they're fair, so why not?**


End file.
